We preserve and celebrate our town’s unique history and character
Sited in the upper western area
In Historic Merchants Barton, the Western Warehouse and other ancillary buildings Mayday will deliver 2,360 sqm of community assets. Current intentions include a live youth music venue, workshop space, a community regional business centre, and space for the Black Swan Arts centre.
These buildings will be owned by Mayday Saxonvale, with community benefit determining their use, and any profits being reinvested in Saxonvale and Frome.
A new Merchants Courtyard
Below the Silk Mill, a new Merchants Courtyard area will be provided with under-croft car-parking provision servicing businesses within the curtilage.
The courtyard will have multiple access points for pedestrians and be landscaped with tree plantings and a reflective area incorporating a water-feature rill or leat.
A twin-roofed repurposed tool and stores building will become the location for an exciting new performance space called the Engineers Proscenium or ‘EP’. This facility will be an additional resource for theatres and drama groups in Frome and for the town’s annual festival and local live music events.
Frome’s missing Barton
The proposal returns the Merchants Barton back to its central role, and as a primary connective route and gateway into the site.
The Merchants Barton facade, Corner Building and as much historic fabric as possible will be retained in the environs of the Silk Mill.
The former abattoir, (originally modest residential cottages with gardens one of which was a butchers’ shop), will be converted into a new spa and treatment rooms utilising the bartons’ natural underground spring.
