The Sessions House is a former judicial building on George Row in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England ...

, England. The Sessions House, which is currently used as a tourist information centre, 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 I ...

. The building is adjacent to County Hall, the meeting place of

Northamptonshire County Council Northamptonshire County Council was the county council that governed the non-metropolitan county of Northamptonshire in England. It was originally formed in 1889 by the Local Government Act 1888, recreated in 1974 by the Local Government Act 19 ...

History

The Sessions House was built on the site of an early 17th century

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

known as "''The Bell''". The property was acquired for the county and converted into a gaol in 1634.Giggins 2012, p. 10 A

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

, John Maidwell, was imprisoned in the cells of the gaol in 1664 for not swearing allegiance to King Charles II.Giggins 2012, p. 11 The gaol was destroyed in the

Great Fire of Northampton The Great Fire of Northampton occurred in September 1675 in Northampton in Northamptonshire, England. The blaze was caused by sparks from an open fire on St. Mary’s Street, near Northampton Castle. The fire devastated the town centre, destroying ...

in September 1675 and the Sessions House, which was designed by Henry Bell of King's Lynn in the Renaissance style using a plan by Sir Roger Norwich, became one of the first facilities built after the Great Fire when it was completed in 1678. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing George Row. The central section of three bays contained windows flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s with a central shield above the middle window. The end bays contained round headed doorways (one door for the ''

nisi prius ''Nisi prius'' () (Latin: "unless before") is a historical term in English law. In the 19th century, it came to be used to denote generally all legal actions tried before judges of the King's Bench Division and in the early twentieth century for ...

'' judge and one door for the crown judge) flanked by paired

Corinthian order The Corinthian order ( Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns under segmental

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 ...

s containing the

Royal arms The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, or the royal arms for short, is the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently King Charles III. These arms are used by the King in his official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom. Varia ...

. The building originally also had dormer windows and a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

.Giggins 2012, p. 5 The principal rooms were the courtrooms: the ''nisi prius'' court was in the west of the building, stretching to the rear, and the crown court was in the east of the building. They were decorated with plaster ceilings depicting

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

and the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

as well as

cornucopia In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (), from Latin ''cornu'' (horn) and ''copia'' (abundance), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers ...

s which were all designed by Edward Goudge. A fellow architect, Captain William Winde, said of Goudge in 1690 that he "will undoubtedly have a good deal of work for he is now looked on as the best master in England in his profession". Portraits of

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...

and Queen Mary II by Wolfang William Claret were hung on the walls of the ''nisi prius'' court. The original cells from the old 17th century gaol were incorporated into the basement of the building and were accessed by staircases in the courtrooms.Giggins 2012, p. 7 Prisoners sentenced to death were executed in Angel Lane at the back of the Sessions House. The building continued to be used as a facility for dispensing justice until 1987, when the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some either way offences and appeals lied to it by the magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and W ...

in Lady's Lane was completed. The Sessions House was converted for use as a tourist information centre in 2010.

References

Sources

*{{cite book, last=Giggins, first=Brian, title=Observations on the Sessions House, George Row, Northampton, year=2012, url=https://www.academia.edu/20401838 Court buildings in England Grade I listed buildings in Northamptonshire Grade I listed government buildings Buildings and structures in Northampton