The Old Courthouse, also known as the Old Town Hall, is a historic building in Penryn Street in

Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...

, a town in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, in England. The structure, which was used for judicial purposes before being converted for use as a social club, is a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The building was commissioned as a courthouse established to enforce debts under the Small Debts Act 1845. The site the court officials selected was on the west side of Penryn Street. It was designed by Robert Blee in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

and was completed in 1850. It also served as a public events venue and, in April 1853, the Redruth Band performed a concert there. By the 1870s, the building was being let out for monthly meetings of the County Court, which had exclusive jurisdiction over all small claims throughout west Cornwall. In October 1873, a trial took place at Camborne Town Hall, during which the prosecuting solicitor, Richard Holloway, demanded that the miners, James and Joseph Bawden, be sentenced to five months on the

treadmill A treadmill is a device generally used for walking, running, or climbing while staying in the same place. Treadmills were introduced before the development of powered machines to harness the power of animals or humans to do work, often a type of ...

in Bodmin Jail for their part in the Camborne riots. During the trial, the defendants' supporters threatened to blow up the Redruth Courthouse, which as the small debts courthouse was particularly unpopular with the miners, and pursued the prosecutor down the street. The Redruth Courthouse was also used as a Wesleyan reform meeting room at that time. In 1891, it became the office of the solicitor and archaeologist, Thurstan Collins Peter, who outside his legal activities, carried out excavations at Carn Brea. Peter became clerk of the rural sanitary authority and, after that entity was superseded by Redruth Rural District Council in 1894, he became the clerk of the rural district council with his office in the courthouse. After the county court was transferred to Camborne in 1977, the building went on to serve as a private members club, originally founded as a gentlemen's club but later expanded to include ladies as well. Monthly meetings of the Redruth and Camborne Branch of the

Royal Naval Association The Royal Naval Association (RNA) is an association of current and former British Naval Service personnel (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Women's Royal Naval Service, Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines R ...

continue to be held in the club.

Architecture

The building is constructed of granite, and has a slate roof. It is two storeys high and three bays wide. The central bay features a central recessed

porch A porch (; , ) is a room or gallery located in front of an entrance to a building. A porch is placed in front of the façade of a building it commands, and forms a low front. Alternatively, it may be a vestibule (architecture), vestibule (a s ...

formed by a pair of

Tuscan order The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but wit ...

columns supporting a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

with

wreath A wreath () is an assortment of flowers, leaves, fruits, twigs, or various materials that is constructed to form a ring shape. In English-speaking countries, wreaths are used typically as household ornaments, most commonly as an Advent and C ...

s and a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

; on the first floor there is a central window flanked by

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and a cornice. The outer bays are fenestrated by

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 windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s with

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s on the ground floor and by sash windows with

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; , also called an epistyle; ) is the lintel or beam, typically made of wood or stone, that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can also apply to all sides, including the vertical members, ...

s on the first floor. At roof level there is a frieze with

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

s and wreaths and projecting

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

supported by a series of

mutule This page is a glossary of architecture. A B C The Caryatid Porch of the Athen ...

s. Inside, there is an original staircase leading up to the former courtroom on the first floor. The building was

grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

in 1978.

References

{{reflist City and town halls in Cornwall Redruth Grade II listed buildings in Cornwall Government buildings completed in 1850 Grade II listed government buildings