Plymouth Law Courts, also known as Plymouth Combined Court Centre, 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 ...
, which deals with civil cases, in Armada Way,
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
, England. The building is located just to the east of
Plymouth Civic Centre
Plymouth Civic Centre is a former principal administrative centre of Plymouth, Devon, England. Opened in 1962, the building was used by Plymouth City Council until it was sold for development in 2015. It has been Grade II Listed since 2007.
Hi ...
quarter sessions
The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388 (extending also to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535). They were also established in ...
hearings in Plymouth were held in the old Guildhall in Whimple Street and then, after 1874, in the new
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 ...
in Guildhall Square. However, as the number of court cases in Plymouth grew in the first half of the 20th century, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters. 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 ...
had been occupied a narrow street known as "Princes Street Ope" which accommodated public and commercial buildings dating from the 1860s. The street had formed part of the area of Plymouth which had been heavily bombed as part of the Plymouth Blitz during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
The new building was designed by the city architect, Hector Stirling, built by
Costain Group
Costain Group plc is a British construction and engineering company headquartered in Maidenhead, England. Founded in 1865, its history includes extensive housebuilding and mining activities, but it later focused on civil engineering and commerci ...
in grey stone and glass, and was officially opened by the
Master of the Rolls
The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales a ...
,
Lord Denning
Alfred Thompson "Tom" Denning, Baron Denning (23 January 1899 – 5 March 1999) was an English lawyer and judge. He was called to the bar of England and Wales in 1923 and became a King's Counsel in 1938. Denning became a judge in 1944 when ...
, on 16 April 1963. The design involved a broadly symmetrical main frontage facing onto Armada Way. At the centre of the frontage, there was a short flight of steps leading up to an opening containing four doorways. A large
latticework
__NOTOC__
Latticework is an openwork framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a grid or weave.
Latticework may be functional &nda ...
incorporating the city's
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...
was projected forward over the entrance. The building was fenestrated on both floors by a continuous band of
casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...
s with grey stone panels above and below. A Royal coat of arms was fixed to the building on the first floor at the north end. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate four courtrooms. The architectural historian,
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
, was unimpressed with the design and described it as a "bland box of 1963".
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 became the venue for hearings of the newly designated Plymouth Crown Court.
Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of
William Goad
William Goad (12 July 1944 – 20 October 2012) was a British millionaire businessman from Plymouth, Devon, who was imprisoned for life for child rape. He was called in various newspapers "Britain's most prolific paedophile",