The Sheffield Law Courts is 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 ...

venue, which deals with criminal cases, as well as a County Court venue, which deals with civil cases, in West Bar in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England.

History

Until the mid-1990s, all Crown Court cases were heard in the Sheffield Old Town Hall in Waingate. However, as the number of court cases in Sheffield grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse for criminal matters: the sloping site selected by the

Lord Chancellor's Department The Lord Chancellor's Department was a United Kingdom government department answerable to the Lord Chancellor with jurisdiction over England and Wales. Created in 1885 as the Lord Chancellor's Office with a small staff to assist the Lord Chance ...

had been occupied by the Surrey Music Hall, a venue which dated from 1849, and, after the music hall burnt down, the street was occupied by shops and public houses. The new building was designed by Napper Collerton in the modern style, built by John Laing Construction in red brick and

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone was completed in November 1995. It was officially opened by the

Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English and ...

, Lord Taylor, on 17 May 1996. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing onto West Bar. The central bay, which was three storeys high, featured a two-storey

portico 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 cu ...

formed by two large piers 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

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 ...

. Above the portico, there was a row of narrow windows at second floor level, surmounted by a parapet bearing a Royal coat of arms. The flanking bays, which were four storeys high, featured sections on the upper floors, which were stone-faced and

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

ed out over the pavement, while the outer bays were only three storeys in height and were faced in red brick with stone dressings. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate 21 courtrooms. Notable cases have included the trial and conviction, in November 2010, of five men in connection with the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, the trial and conviction, in February 2021, of Pawel Relowicz for the murder of Libby Squire, and the trial and conviction, in June 2021, of

Gary Allen Frederick Gary Allen (August 2, 1936 – November 29, 1986) was an American conservative writer. Allen was the father of four children, including Michael Allen, a political news journalist. Allen died as the result of a liver ailment in 1986 ...

for the murder of two women, 21 years apart. The

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a substantive title, title customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal famil ...

visited the Law Courts, in July 2021, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of their opening.

References

{{reflist

External links

Court information
Buildings and structures in Sheffield Crown Court buildings Government buildings completed in 1995 Court buildings in England