The Sessions House was a municipal facility at New Walk in

Beverley Beverley is a market town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located north-west of Hull city centre. At the 2021 census the built-up area of the town had a population of 30,930, and the smaller civil parish had ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England. The building, which was the main courthouse for the East Riding of Yorkshire, 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 first sessions house in Beverley was located in a building at Hall Garth on a site which had previously accommodated the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

's manor house. In the early 19th century the justices decided to allow the lease on the building at Hall Garth to expire and, instead, chose to procure a new sessions house in New Walk. A prison facility or "house of correction", which could accommodate around 60 prisoners at a time, had already been built in Norfolk Street, to the rear of the proposed site for the sessions house, in 1810. The new building, which was designed by Watson and Pritchett in the

classical style Classical architecture typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...

, was completed in 1814. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto New Walk; the central section of three bays featured a two-storey

tetrastyle 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 cultu ...

portico with full height

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

columns; the doorway was flanked by windows on the ground floor and there were three arched windows on the first floor; there was a large

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

containing a Royal

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

topped with a figure of

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

above. The

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 ...

and the

petty session Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The session ...

s were both held in the courtroom. After the prisoners had been dispersed to alternative facilities in the West Riding, the prison closed in 1878 and prison buildings were subsequently converted into private housing. The sessions house continued to be used as the local facility for dispensing justice but, in the late 19th century, along with the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...

, it was also used as the meeting place for the

East Riding County Council East Riding County Council (ERCC) was the county council of the East Riding of Yorkshire (excluding the county borough of Kingston upon Hull) from 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1974. In 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, the historic establ ...

until County Hall was completed in 1891. Facilities for the local police force were established in an adjacent building to the north of the sessions house and substantially enlarged when the police station became a constabulary headquarters in 1930. The sessions house continued to be used as a courthouse throughout the 20th century, latterly for the Crown Court, and repairs were carried out to the roof to extend the use of the building in 1984. It ceased operating as a courthouse in 1988 and was empty and deteriorating until it was marketed for sale in 1999. It was then converted for commercial use and re-opened as a spa, beauty salon and boutique in 2004. In March 2019 it featured in the Channel 5 television series "The House of Extraordinary People".

References

{{reflist Grade II* listed buildings in the East Riding of Yorkshire Beverley Buildings and structures completed in 1814 Court buildings in England