The Shire Hall is a municipal building in Foregate Street in Worcester, England. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

An Act of Parliament in 1831 allowed for ''"erecting a County Hall and Courts of Justice, and also for providing Accommodation for His Majesty's Justices of Assize, in and for the County of Worcester."'' The Shire Hall, which was designed by Charles Day and Henry Rowe in the

Greek Revival style The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

, was completed in 1835. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage facing onto Foregate Street; the central section featured a hexastyle

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 c ...

with

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

columns supporting a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

. The principal rooms included a Grand Hall and the courtrooms. Pevsner applauded the "impeccable Grecian design" of the Shire Hall with its "excellent Schinkelish detail". A statue of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

, designed by

Sir Thomas Brock Sir Thomas Brock (1 March 184722 August 1922) was an English sculptor and medallist, notable for the creation of several large public sculptures and monuments in Britain and abroad in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His mos ...

, was unveiled outside the building in 1887. A

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''rank ...

, designed and manufactured by Nicholson & Co, was installed in the Shire Hall in 1884. The Czech composer,

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist exampl ...

, toured the UK that year and made a visit to Worcester although no organ pieces were actually played at concerts during his visit. Although originally used as a facility for dispensing justice, following the implementation of the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administra ...

, which established county councils in every county, the Shire Hall also became the meeting place for

Worcestershire County Council Worcestershire County Council is the county council for the non-metropolitan county of Worcestershire in England. The most recent elections to it were in 2021. Worcestershire County Council has its headquarters at County Hall in Worcester, w ...

. Visitors to the Shire Hall included Princess Elizabeth who entered the building on 8 June 1951 during celebrations associated with the bi-centenary of the

Royal Worcester Porcelain Factory Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown De ...

. They also included the writer,

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architectu ...

, who made a controversial speech in the building in 1964 in which he repeated some comments made by his colleague, James Lees-Milne, who had complained about the "vandalism of the modern world" when authoring the Shell Guide to Worcestershire. Following the implementation of the Courts Act 1971, the former assizes court was re-designated Worcester Crown Court. After the Worcestershire County Council was abolished in 1974, the new authority,

Hereford and Worcester County Council Hereford and Worcester County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Hereford and Worcester in west England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1974 and was abolished on 31 March 1998. The county council was based at C ...

was initially based at the Shire Hall in Worcester but moved its base to County Hall in Worcester in 1978. The Shire Hall's activities were then restricted to that of a Crown Court.

References

{{reflist W Grade II* listed buildings in Worcestershire Government buildings completed in 1835 Crown Court buildings Court buildings in England