Chester Crown Court is a judicial facility at Castle Square in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The building, which forms part of a series of imposing buildings at

Chester Castle Chester Castle is in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is sited at the southwest extremity of the area bounded by the city walls. The castle stands on an eminence overlooking the River Dee. In the castle complex are the remaining par ...

, is a Grade I

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 current building replaced a previous shire hall which had been built just outside the main gate in 1310, but which was in a derelict state by the late 18th century. In 1785 the justices insisted that an architectural competition be held for a new shire hall as well as a new prison to be located behind the new shire hall; the site selected for the new complex formed part of the outer bailey of the castle. Work on the new complex began with the demolition of the old buildings in 1788. The new shire hall was designed by Thomas Harrison and completed in 1801. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with nineteen

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

facing onto Castle Square with the end bays projecting forwards slightly; the central section of seven bays featured a large

hexastyle 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 twelve

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns (in two rows), projecting forwards by about with a plain tympanum above. Its two-storey façade was about long and high. Internally, the principal room was an imposing main courtroom which was inspired by the School of Anatomy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. It was described by

Charles Dupin Baron Pierre Charles François Dupin (; 6 October 1784, Varzy, Nièvre – 18 January 1873, Paris, France) was a French Catholic mathematician, engineer, economist and politician, particularly known for work in the field of mathematics, where t ...

as "most assuredly the handsomest of this kind that is to be seen in Europe." The prison, which Harrison had also designed and which had been located behind the shire hall, was demolished in 1902. A statue of Queen Victoria, designed by

Frederick William Pomeroy Frederick William Pomeroy (9 October 1856 – 26 May 1924) was a prolific British sculptor of architectural and monumental works. He became a leading sculptor in the New Sculpture movement, a group distinguished by a stylistic turn towards na ...

, was unveiled outside the share hall by the

Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of the County Palatine of Chester. Since 1689, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Cheshire. Lord Lieutenants of Cheshire Vice Lieutenants *Alan Egerton, 3rd Baro ...

Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton (17 January 1832 – 16 March 1909) was an English Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician from the Egerton family. He sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons fro ...

, on 17 October 1903. The building was used as a facility for dispensing justice from the early 19th century and was latterly used as a

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

. Famous trials at the court have included those of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, known as the Moors Murderers, in April 1966. Bulletproof glass was erected around the dock to ensure the two defendants were protected during the trial. The court was also the venue for the trial of Peter Reyn-Bardt, accused of murdering his estranged wife, Malika de Fernandez in December 1983; Reyn-Bardt was convicted based on his confession even though the human remains which had been dug up and which had led to his arrest were subsequently dated to the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The court also saw the trial and conviction of Howard Hughes for the

murder of Sophie Hook The murder of Sophie Hook was a widely reported child murder which took place in Llandudno, North Wales, in July 1995. Sophie Louise Hook (27 May 1988 – 30 July 1995) was a seven-year-old British child who was murdered in Llandudno, Wal ...

in June 1996.

References

{{reflist Grade I listed buildings in Chester Government buildings completed in 1801 Crown Court buildings Court buildings in England

History

See also

References