The Wolverhampton 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 Pipers Row,

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, England.

History

Until the early 1990s, all criminal court hearings were held in the

Old Town Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...

in North Street. However, as the number of court cases in Birmingham grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters. It was also intended that the building would become the venue for civil cases hearings, which had previously taken place in the old Assembly Rooms in Queen Street. 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 ...

, on the east side of Pipers Row, had been occupied by a piece of land known in the 19th century as "Tomkys Yard" which had been occupied by a furniture store owned by Alexander Sloan & Company in the early 20th century. The new building was designed by Norman and Dawbarn in the

Modernist style Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

, built in alternating bands of light and dark brown brick at a cost of £9.2 million, and was completed in 1990. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of nine bays facing onto Pipers Row. The left hand section of six bays was fenestrated by large

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 on the first floor and by an irregular pattern of windows on the ground and second floors. The central section was formed by a large recess giving access to a full-height

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

fronted by a single-storey steel-framed

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an a ...

which projected forward. The right hand section of two bays was fenestrated in a similar style to the left hand section. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate ten courtrooms. Notable cases included trial and conviction of four members of the

rock band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

, ''

The Stone Roses The Stone Roses were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist I ...

'', in October 1990, for criminal damage to the offices of their former record company, the trial and conviction of Sheila Jones, in November 2011, for the murder of her grandmother, and the trial and conviction of Ayman Aziz, in December 2018, for the rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Wolverhampton park.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court information
Buildings and structures in Wolverhampton Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1990 Court buildings in England