The Judges' Lodgings, located in Whitecross Street,

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. I ...

, south east Wales, is an eighteenth-century building, with earlier origins, on the edge of St James' Square. It has its origins as an early 16th-century town house, becoming the 'Labour in Vain' inn around 1756. It was in use as the Judges' Lodgings for the Monmouth

Assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

before 1835, and as the Militia Officers'

Mess The mess (also called a mess deck aboard ships) is a designated area where military personnel socialize, eat and (in some cases) live. The term is also used to indicate the groups of military personnel who belong to separate messes, such as the o ...

in the 1870s. Today it is a private house, with modern mews cottages built into the rear. It is a

Grade II 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 ...

listed buildingNo.27, St. James' Garage (front range only), Whitecross Street, Monmouth
British Listed Buildings]. Accessed January 2012 and is one of 24

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

buildings on the

Monmouth Heritage Trail The Monmouth Heritage Trail is a walking route which connects various sights in the town of Monmouth, Wales. History In 2009 Monmouth Civic Society identified 24 historic and interesting buildings in the town, and organised the production and fix ...

History

Although there were earlier houses on this site, the earliest recorded building is the ''Labour in Vain'' inn in 1756, when it also had a malthouse and stables. It was known as ''Somerset House'' in the late eighteenth century, but was still the ''Labour in Vain'' in 1822, when it was used by officers of the Monmouth and Brecon Militia as a Mess, as an alternative to the Beaufort Arms, then the town's premier inn.Monmouth Civic Society, ''Monmouth Heritage Blue Plaque Trail'', n.d., p.15 The building lodged the judges for the Monmouth

held in the Shire Hall, including the trial of the Chartists, where John Frost and two other leaders of the Newport Rising were condemned to death in 1840. "Respectable" society and those in authority were much in fear of Chartism, or indeed of giving any political power to the lower classes, and to guard against sedition Militia were stationed in Monmouth at the White Swan Inn. In 1926 the Lodgings became a motor garage, with cars served across the footpath from fuel pumps. At one time it was a

Conservative Club The Association of Conservative Clubs is an organisation associated with the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. It represents and provides support to the largest association of political clubs in the country estimated at 1,100. The Associ ...

, before being converted back to private houses, with smaller mews houses behind, in the 1970s.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Judges' Lodgings, Monmouth Houses in Monmouth, Wales