The Norwich Law Courts 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, as well as a

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

venue, which deals with civil cases, in Bishopgate,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

, England.

History

Originally, all criminal court and civil court hearings were held in the trial room in the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

which dated back to the early 15th century. However, as the number of court cases in Norwich grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse. The site selected by the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chancell ...

was occupied by the old Bishopgate Gas Works which was built in the mid-19th century. An archaeological survey on the site revealed part of a house dating back to the 12th century, and, opposite the entrance to the site, on the other side of Bishopgate, was the spot where Lord Sheffield died during

Kett's Rebellion Kett's Rebellion was a revolt in Norfolk, England during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land. It began at Wymondham on 8 July 1549 with a group of rebels destroying fences that had been put up by wealthy landowners ...

in July 1549. The first new structure was the new magistrates' court building, on the southwest part of the site, which was designed by the city architect, Robert Goodyear, in the debased neoclassical style, built in red brick and was completed in 1985. This was followed by the crown and county courts, on the northeast part of the site, which was designed by the

Property Services Agency The Property Services Agency (PSA) was an agency of the United Kingdom government, in existence from 1972 to 1993. Its role was to “provide, manage, maintain, and furnish the property used by the government, including defence establishments, offi ...

in the same style, built in red brick at a cost of £7 million, and was completed in 1988. The design of the crown and county courts building involved two sides of a courtyard which faced southwest. The northeast side of the courtyard featured three recessed doorways on the ground floor, a Royal coat of arms above the central doorway and three pairs of small square windows on the first floor. The northwest side of the courtyard was formed by a two-storey

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

which was fenestrated with large casement windows on the ground floor and pairs of small square windows on the first floor. There was also a second floor, which was set back, fenestrated by

Diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...

s and surmounted by gables. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate seven courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction, in May 2009, of two men and a woman, for the murder of Simon Everitt, in a re-enactment of a scene from the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, ''

Severance Severance may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Severance'' (film), a 2006 British horror film * ''Severance'' (novel), a 2018 novel by Ling Ma *''Severance'', a 2006 short-story collection by Robert Olen Butler * ''Severance'' (TV series), a ...

''.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court information
Buildings and structures in Norwich Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1988 Court buildings in England