Shire Hall is a building complex located in Northgate Street in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is the main office and the meeting place of

Warwickshire County Council Warwickshire County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Warwickshire in England. Its headquarters are located at Shire Hall, Market Square, in centre of the county town of Warwick. Politically the county is ...

. The complex is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The first hall

Although Warwick was founded much earlier, it was not incorporated as a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

until 1545Slater, Terry: ''A History of Warwickshire''. Philmore, 1981 and it was only in 1576 that justice became a borough matter rather than that of the earls.Wood, Anthony C: ''Shire Hall, Warwick'', page 3. Warwickshire Local History Society, 1983 Little is known about the first hall built on the site following this declaration except that £1,161 was levied for repairs and alterations (and the erection of a

gaol A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, English language in England, standard English, Australian English, Australian, and Huron Historic Gaol, historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention cen ...

next door) in May 1674 to be raised by taxes. Work was undertaken by Mr William Hurlbert who had previously erected the town's Market Hall and refurbished

Warwick Castle Warwick Castle is a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England, situated on a meander of the River Avon. The original wooden motte-an ...

.''The Shire Hall Before 1675'', pages 53-54. Warwickshire County Record Office, 1946 Due to the fact that it was a sturdy brick-built structure the hall survived the Great Fire of Warwick on 5 September 1694 which destroyed all the surrounding town centre buildings.Cluley, Christine M: ''Northgate Street'', page 15. Riley, Dunn & Wilson Ltd, 2006

The current building

The original sections of the existing building, which were designed by

Sanderson Miller Sanderson Miller (1716 – 23 April 1780) was an English pioneer of Gothic revival architecture and landscape designer. He is noted for adding follies or other Picturesque garden buildings and features to the grounds of an estate. Early life ...

, were constructed by local brothers William and David HiornPevsner, Nikolaus: ''Warwickshire'', page 41. Yale University Press, 1981 between 1753 and 1758.Girouard, Mark: ''The English Town: A History of Urban Life'', page 52. Yale University Press, 1995 The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of nine bays facing onto Northgate Street; the central section of three bays featured a round headed doorway flanked by Corinthian order columns supporting a frieze and 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 pedim ...

containing the county council

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

. The principal rooms included a Grand Jury Room on the first floor and the courtrooms on the ground floor. The building was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place of

. The first major extension of the complex beyond the traditional hall and court rooms took place in 1932. Massively increasing its size the complex spread eastward, incorporating the frontage of the old Gaol, towards the former barracks, onto the site where the Militia Hall had once stood.Cluley, Christine M: ''Northgate Street'', page 44. Riley, Dunn & Wilson Ltd, 2006 The building was brought up to its current size by construction of the council chambers and further offices in 1958 and a final expansion in 1966. The latter two developments are classic examples of

Brutalist architecture Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ba ...

. The Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother officially opened the extension on 3 November 1966. Included in these alterations were the relocation of the Warwickshire County Emergency Centre, effectively a

bunker A bunker is a defensive military fortification designed to protect people and valued materials from falling bombs, artillery, or other attacks. Bunkers are almost always underground, in contrast to blockhouses which are mostly above ground. T ...

allowing emergency council business to continue during wartime or

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attacks. There are currently two man-made

pond A pond is an area filled with water, either natural or artificial, that is smaller than a lake. Defining them to be less than in area, less than deep, and with less than 30% emergent vegetation helps in distinguishing their ecology from ...

s located in the complex, one in the 1930s courtyard and another outside the 1966 section, with metallic sculptures of a heron and fishes added in 2000.Author Unknown: ''Artist wades in with inspiration''. Coventry Evening Telegraph, July 21, 2000 The county courts moved to a purpose built complex in Leamington Spa in 2010. The television series ''

Father Brown Father Brown is a fictional Roman Catholic priest and amateur detective who is featured in 53 short stories published between 1910 and 1936 written by English author G. K. Chesterton. Father Brown solves mysteries and crimes using his intui ...

'' was filmed in and around the Hall in 2014.

References

{{reflist Warwick Buildings and structures in Warwick Grade I listed buildings in Warwickshire W Government buildings completed in 1758