The Moot Hall is a former judicial structure in The Market Place,

Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden nearby, and close to Hadrian's Wall. Hexham was the administra ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, England. The structure, which currently accommodates an art gallery on the ground floor and the museums department of

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Northumberland in North East England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority, having also ...

on the upper floors, is a Grade I listed building.

History

The building was commissioned by the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...

, Alexander Neville, as a gatehouse to an enclosure now known as Hallgate, where the Old Gaol stands. The Moot Hall was designed in the Medieval style, built in

rubble masonry Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wi ...

and was completed in around 1379. The design involved a four-storey tower, with a three-storey annex to the left, facing onto the Market Place. The tower featured a two-storey round headed recess containing a vaulted carriageway on the ground floor and a bi-partite

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid sup ...

ed window with cusped heads on the first floor. There were

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s on the floors above and a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

at roof level. The annex was fenestrated by a single window with a cusped head on the first floor and by a

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 c ...

on the second floor; it was surmounted by a heavily

machicolated In architecture, a machicolation () is an opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement through which defenders could target attackers who had reached the base of the defensive wall. A smaller related structure that only protects key poi ...

parapet. Internally, the principal rooms were a vaulted space on the ground floor, the courtroom on the first floor and the bailiff's hall on the second floor. The courtroom served as the main courtroom of the former Liberty or Peculiar of

Hexhamshire Hexhamshire is a former county and current civil parish in Northern England. It included Hexham, Whitley Chapel, Allendale, and St John Lee (today part of Plenmeller with Whitfield) until it was incorporated into Northumberland in 1572. Histo ...

until the county was absorbed into

in 1572. After that it was used as a venue for the

midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...

quarter sessions The courts of quarter sessions or quarter sessions were local courts that were traditionally held at four set times each year in the Kingdom of England from 1388; they were extended to Wales following the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Scotland establ ...

until 1838, and the building still stands as one of the best surviving examples of a medieval courthouse in the north of England. A collection of 10,000 books, which had been presented by a local grocery chain proprietor, Joseph William Brough, in 1948, was stored in the building and remained there until it was relocated to a new library in the central section of the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...

in 1983. The upper storeys of the building subsequently accommodated the museums department of

Tynedale District Council __NOTOC__ Tynedale was a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Northumberland, England. The district had a resident population of 58,808 according to the 2001 United Kingdom census, 2001 census. The main towns were Hexham, Ha ...

, and since the introduction of unitary authorities in 2009, they have accommodated the museums department of

. Meanwhile, the vaulted space on the ground floor has been made available for hire as an art gallery.

References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in Northumberland Hexham Court buildings in England

History

See also

References