The Shire Hall is a public building in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

, England, completed in 1798 to a design by John Harvey. Formerly a

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

house, it housed an art gallery which closed to the public in July 2017. The court rooms and cells are preserved. The building, its interiors, and the associated

street furniture Street furniture is a collective term for objects and pieces of equipment installed along streets and roads for various purposes. It includes bench (furniture), benches, traffic barriers, bollards, post boxes, phone boxes, streetlamps, traffic ...

were

grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

on 17 December 1971, when it was described as "One of the finest public buildings in Stafford".

Earlier buildings

The current building is the third of similar function on the site. The county court met in Stafford as early as 1176. A shire hall, home to the county court and other civic functions, stood on the north side of what is now Market Square in the 1280s. In the 1580s, the decision was made to rebuild the shire hall, on a new site, but this was not completed until 1607, probably due to difficulties raising the money needed. By 1793, it had been decided, due to the building’s poor condition caused by inadequate maintenance, that a new building was needed, and the Stafford Shire Hall Act 1794 was passed by Parliament.

Architecture

Designs were submitted by Samuel Wyatt, then working at nearby

Shugborough Hall Shugborough Hall is a stately home near Great Haywood, Staffordshire, England. The hall is situated on the edge of Cannock Chase, about east of Stafford and from Rugeley. The estate was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield until the dissol ...

, and by John Nash, but the one chosen was by John Harvey - his only significant building. Harvey had worked as Wyatt's assistant or pupil, and Wyatt is believed to have been involved in the final

Neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

design. Building began in 1795, and the hall was completed in 1798. The hall has nine

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

bays above a rusticated ground floor. The portico has an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

and

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

, supported by four Doric columns. Figures of

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

and

Mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

, by John Rossi and his partner John Bingley, recline on the pediment. A clock was placed between them in 1799, instead of the planned figure of Britannia from Harvery's original design. Also abandoned was Wyatt's proposal to include judges' living accommodation.

Interior

Immediately behind the facade is the Great Hall, , with three galleries. Beyond this are the two courtrooms: Court 1 (now open to the public, with displays of museum artefacts related to crime and policing) for the High Court and Court 2, the

magistrates' court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several Jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) ...

. The latter has many original fittings, but the former was enlarged by the county surveyor, Charles Trubshaw, and refitted by local joiner Thomas Bull, in 1854. The 1854 remodelling extended the building over a market for dairy produce, The Butter Market. As a result, a new market hall was built nearby, across the market square. The basement included a guard room (holding cell) for prisoners, and the Mayor of Stafford's office. In 1947, one of the courtrooms was used in the filming of '' Blanche Fury'', starring Stewart Granger.

Judges

Memorial to Thomas Noon Talfourd in Shire Hall Stafford

John Sparrow was Chairman of Stafford

Quarter Sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...

when the new building opened. His portrait, by William Owen, is in Court 2. Another judge, Thomas Noon Talfourd, collapsed and died while in the court. He is commemorated by a bust, sculpted by John Graham Lough, in Court 1.

Trials

Among those tried at the Shire Hall were the forger William Booth, who was convicted before Simon Le Blanc and hanged outside Stafford Gaol in 1812. The trial in the case of the murder of Christina Collins was held there in July 1839:

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

based his eighth

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

novel, '' The Wench Is Dead'' on the case. In 1923, George Stagg was convicted of the murder by shooting of

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

footballer Tommy Ball. His death sentence was commuted, and he died in 1966 in a mental hospital in Birmingham. In 1970, Raymond Leslie Morris was convicted of the Cannock Chase murders in the Shire Hall and, in 1979, the spree killer, Barry Williams, was convicted of

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

on the grounds of diminished responsibility there.

Shire Hall Gallery

The Shire Hall continued to be used as a criminal court until the Stafford Combined Court Centre in Victoria Square opened in 1991. Staffordshire County Council decided to renovate and adapt it, completing the work in 1993 with some funding by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The Great Hall became an art gallery, featuring visiting exhibitions and temporary displays of material from the

Staffordshire County Museum Staffordshire County Museum is housed in the Servants' Quarters of Shugborough Hall, Milford, near Stafford, Staffordshire, England. The museum features a restored Victorian kitchen, laundry and brewhouse as well as permanent galleries and tem ...

collection, and occasionally part of the Staffordshire Hoard. The former courtyard was glazed over and is now part of a suite of council offices, including the former Grand Jury Room which retains part of its 18th-century dado. The gallery closed in July 2017. The building continues to be used for one-off events and various options for future use have been submitted to the county council for consideration.

References

{{reflist

External links

Shire Hall Gallery official web page archived on archive.org
Buildings and structures in Stafford Former courthouses in England Art museums and galleries in Staffordshire Government buildings completed in 1798 1798 establishments in England