York Crown Court 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 at
York Castle in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
, England. It is a
Grade I listed building.
History
Originally the
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 ...
for the City of York were held in
York Guildhall in St Martins Courtyard, Coney Street. However, judicial matters moved to
York Castle when a Grand Jury House was built there in 1668 and supplemented by a Sessions House of 1675. However, by the mid 18th century, the Grand Jury House had become dilapidated and it was decided to demolish it and to erect a new building on the same site.
The new building was commissioned to serve as the
assizes courts for the City of York. It was designed by
John Carr John Carr may refer to:
Politicians
*John Carr (Indiana politician) (1793–1845), American politician from Indiana
*John Carr (Australian politician, born 1819) (1819–1913), member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1865–1884
* John H ...
in the
neoclassical style, built in
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
stone and was completed in 1777.
[ The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of thirteen bays, with single-storey end bays which were slightly recessed: it faced onto the castle courtyard, which was grassed over at that time to form a circle, which became known as the "Eye of the Ridings". The central section featured a tetrastyle ]portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
''in antis
An anta (pl. antæ, antae, or antas; Latin, possibly from ''ante'', "before" or "in front of"), or sometimes parastas (pl. parastades), is an architectural term describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of a Greek ...
'' formed by full-height Ionic order
The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...
columns supporting an entablature and a modillion
A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...
ed 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 pedimen ...
. The wings of four bays each were fenestrated by round headed sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s on the ground floor and by small square windows on the first floor. The outer bays of the wings also featured full-height Ionic order columns ''in antis'' supporting an entablature. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate two large courtrooms, one to the left and one to the right.[
Notable cases in the 19th century included the trial and conviction, in November 1882, of ]Mary Fitzpatrick
Mary Fitzpatrick (born 20 February 1969) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Senator since June 2020, after being nominated by the Taoiseach.
Early life
Fitzpatrick is from the Navan Road in Dublin and was educated at Our L ...
for the murder of a glass blower
Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...
, James Richardson. 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 was re-designated York Crown Court, and an extensive programme of refurbishment was completed in 1991.
In 2010, the court was the venue for the trial and conviction of the footballers, Craig Nelthorpe and Michael Rankine
Michael Lee Rankine (born 15 January 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Football League for Scunthorpe United, AFC Bournemouth, Aldershot Town and York City.
Rankine began his career ...
for affray following a disturbance in the city centre. A climactic scene for the television series '' Death Comes to Pemberley'' was filmed on a purpose-built scaffold outside the building in 2013.
See also
*
References
External links
Court information
{{Authority control
Crown Court buildings
Government buildings completed in 1777
Buildings and structures in York
Grade I listed buildings in York
Court buildings in England