Shire Hall, Chelmsford
| Shire Hall | |
|
Essex | |
|---|---|
 The Shire Hall | |
| Type: | Shire hall |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL70860689 |
| Location: | 51°44’5"N, -0°28’23"E |
| Town: | Chelmsford |
| History | |
| Built 1790-1791 | |
| For: | The Justices of Essex by John Johnson |
| Shire hall | |
| Classical | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Essex County Council |
Shire Hall stands in the centre of Chelmsford, the county town of Essex, the most impressive building in the city centre.
It was built in 1790 to 1791 in the grand Georgian Classical style, to serve as the headquarters of the Justices of Essex, from which they governed the county and passed judgment upon its offenders. It its time it was the meeting place of the county assizes and quarter sessions, and of the petty sessions for the division, as well as the place where the justices met on administrative business. It continued as a courthouse until April 2012.
The Shire Hall is not to be confused with County Hall the Edwardian-classical civic chambers on Market Street, built in 1909 as a home for Essex County Council.
Construction
The Palladian classical style marks the height of the Georgian Age, and the Shire Hall was built between 1790 and 1791 in this style, designed by John Johnson, the County Surveyor to the Justices of Essex.
The frontage is made from Portland Stone, with white Suffolk brick for the rest of the building. It has three storeys, of which the ground floor is rusticated with three arched entrances. The upper storey has central pediment supported by Ionic columns. The second storey has a range of five windows across it, with very large double hung sashes; the three central windows with stone pediments and the two outer windows with segmented pediments and stone columns.
The third storey has three central high reliefs in the window spaces, representing Justice, Wisdom and Mercy.
The interior was built to impress also. It contains an elegant Assembly Room (a necessity for any fashionable Georgian town).[1] The assembly room stretched the full length of the building and has a music gallery. It was used for balls and other social events, civic meetings, and even served as a court if there an excessive numbers of prisoners was called. Its decoration was much altered in Victorian period.
History
The shire hall standing today was the last in a line of civic buildings. Chelmsford had contained a mediæval building, and it served as both market place and court house. This was replaced in the Elizabethan period by a new Market Cross, or Great Cross, built in 1569. At some point between 1569 and 1660 a second, smaller court building was built, apparently on the west side of the Great Cross, known as the Little Cross: the Great Cross continued to host the assizes and quarter sessions, the Little Cross hosted Chelmsford’s Nisi Prius hearings.
By the middle of the 18th century, the justices’ accommodation was clearly inadequate. Plans for a replacement were drawn up in 1779, but nothing was done until in October 1788 the Quarter Sessions declared their Tudor buildings "not in a fit condition for transacting the publick business of the County". The justices commissioned John Johnson, the county surveyor and architect, to design and build a new Shire Hall, which he duly carried out, the building being completed in 1791.
On 3 June 1791 the Chelmsford Chronicle gave its verdict the transformation to the town centre. The new building:
‘…exhibits a splendid object to all persons coming up the town; this elegant building when completely finished will not only do credit to the taste and spirit of the magistrates of this opulent county, and honour to the architect, but will be of the greatest service and accommodation to every person frequenting the public meetings.’[2]
The ground floor as built was open-sided, with enclosed galleries above, as it was intended that it be used not only for hearings but on Fridays (the market day) as a corn exchange. Dusty, draughty, and noisy though it was, the county Assizes and Quarter Sessions courts were conducted in the open courtyard on the ground floor. The corn merchants conducted their trade each Friday, although eventually they complained of the poor light as they tried to examine the corn, so in 1857 a new Corn Exchange was built nearby.
On 22 February 1856 the Shire Hall was the scene of tragedy. A large crowd thronged into the Shire Hall to view the trial of five men charged with murder committed while poaching, which forced the court to be held upstairs in the assembly room. Such was the throng on the third flight of stairs that the stair balustrades gave way, and then the stone stairs themselves broke away from the wall. People and masonry tumbled down onto the flight of steps below and the people on them. When the area was finally cleared, a body of an 18-year old youth was found. Four others were seriously injured and many others suffered minor injuries.
As the stairs were now destroyed, the court, witnesses and the prisoners, had to make their way out via a window onto to the roof of a nearby building and then down by ladder.[3]
Alterations were made to the Shire Hall during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries as required, but many of the original rooms can still be identified and the assembly room has recently been restored with the help of English Heritage; it is still the largest ballroom in Essex.
In 2012 the Crown Court moved out of the Shire hall to a new courthouse.
In 2018, the Council began looking at options to dispose of the Shire Hall for other uses.[4][5]
See also
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Shire Hall, Chelmsford) |
- Shire Hall, Chelmsford on 'History House
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1141328: Shire Hall
- ↑ Shire Hall; Past, Present and Future - Essex Record Office
- ↑ The Essex Standard, 27 February 1856
- ↑ Chelmsford woman launches petition to stop Shire Hall being turned into restaurants – EssexLive
- ↑ 'Shire Hall could be snatched away from Chelmsford' claims Lib Dem councillor Stephen Robinson over fears public access will be revoked – EssexLive