Durham Crown Court is a

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

venue which deals with criminal cases at

Old Elvet Elvet is an area of the city of Durham, in County Durham, in England. It is situated on the opposite side of the River Wear from Durham Cathedral and forms the south-eastern part of central Durham. Elvet is currently unparished. Historically, ...

Durham, England Durham ( , locally ), is a cathedral city and civil parish on the River Wear, County Durham, England. It is an administrative centre of the County Durham District, which is a successor to the historic County Palatine of Durham (which is dif ...

. Located immediately to the north of

Durham Prison HM Prison Durham is a Georgian era reception Category B men's prison, located in the Elvet area of Durham in County Durham, England. Built in 1819, the prison continues to be operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Women prisoners were mov ...

, it is a Grade II* listed building.

History

The original venue for the assize courts in Durham was the old Shire Hall, also known as the County House, beside

Palace Green Palace Green is an area of grass in the centre of Durham, England, flanked by Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. The Cathedral and Castle together form a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Although initially not part of the site itself, Palace Green ...

; this "inconvenient building" had been established by Bishop John Cosin in the 1660s. In the early 19th century, it was decided to commission a more substantial courthouse; the site chosen, on the south side of Old Elvet, had been granted by Bishop William de St-Calais to the Prior and Convent of Durham in the late 11th century. The building was designed by George Moneypenny and Ignatius Bonomi in the neoclassical style, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

stone and was officially opened on 14 August 1811. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing north onto Court Lane. The central section of three bays, which was projected forward, featured a tetrastyle

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

formed by

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...

columns supporting a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

. There central section contained three double-doors on the ground floor and three

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...

s, which were protected by

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

guardrails, on the first floor. The outer bays were also fenestrated by sash windows and the end bays were also slightly projected forward. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate four courtrooms. Following the completion of the new building, the old Shire Hall at Palace Green was demolished and the Diocesan Registry (now the Durham University Music Library) was built on the site in 1820. A large

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

was opened, just behind the courthouse, in 1819. The interior was extensively refurbished to a design by the borough architect, William Crozier, in 1870. Notable cases included the trial and conviction of Mary Ann Cotton, in March 1873, for murdering her two sons, her stepson and her husband. The building served as the first meeting place of

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

when it was established in 1889. The council later moved to its own purpose-built headquarters at Shire Hall, also on Old Elvet, in 1898. Following the implementation of the

Courts Act 1971 The Courts Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the purpose of which was to reform and modernise the courts system of England and Wales. It established the Crown Court, introduced the posts of circuit judge and recorde ...

, the former assizes courthouse was re-designated Durham Crown Court.Courts Act 1971 (Commencement) Order 1971 (SI 1971/1151)

References

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External links

Court information
Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1811 Buildings and structures in Durham, England Grade II* listed buildings in County Durham Court buildings in England

History

See also

References

External links