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Welcome to the new website for the The Dedham Assembly Rooms Trust. 

In the heart of Constable Country, this stylish, elegant and historic building was completely refurbished in 1999 to provide a unique venue for meetings, weddings, gatherings, and events of many kinds.

This site gives information about the facilities offered, the history and refurbishment and tells you how to contact the Assembly Rooms for more information.

Martin Newell, Author, Poet and Columnist wrote about his visit to the Assembly Rooms in 2013.

Martin Newell’s Joy of Essex: Hands off, Suffolk! Dedham still belongs to my county. PUBLISHED: 14:49 12 October 2013

"I had never been inside the Dedham Assembly Rooms before. The auditorium was smaller than its counterpart in Bath and yet hardly less impressive.  Accessible by a flight of stairs was a narrow gallery looking down upon the performance area, which, prior to the concert, the organisers allowed audience members to explore.  There is something deep within me which has always taken a prurient interest in the Georgian Regency period.  To sit, therefore, in this sparsely elegant, infrequently-used room listening to a young virtuoso cellist playing perfect Bach was a glorious treat for me.  I had no idea that one unamplified cello could muster the power to drench such a large room in its own woody richness.  It was almost as if you could hear the instrument breathing, in between the opulent clusters of notes emanating from it.  Every so often, I gazed up at the high Assembly Room windows and noticed the blustery wind ruffling the leaves of a tree, outside.  The autumn sun, meanwhile, kept subtly changing the light within the packed room whenever it emerged from the clouds.  This was the stuff of time travel.  If the concert-goers present had been dressed in the appropriate period attire, along with the room’s acoustics and its natural light, it probably wouldn’t have been that much different from a similar event 200 years ago. You’d have needed to waft in the aromas of pipe smoke, lavender, and a more earthy human miasma. Oh, and then you’d have to elbow out that Benny Britten and pull Al Scarlatti off the subs’ bench.

It was worth noting, that the audience, who gave the cellist a well-deserved and sustained applause, seemed to be purely music fans.  They weren’t there to show off their hats and shoes, or to minny around being seen.  They’d arrived on a blowy autumn mid-morning to listen to the playing of an exceptionally gifted young cellist.

I would challenge anyone in the arts who fancied their chances, “Could you, either as artiste or promoter, sell about 120 tickets, at £12.50 each for a Sunday morning event, packing out a country assembly hall?” Because I couldn’t.

Anyway, back to the subject of Dedham. It remains in Essex. Is that all right, then?"