Shire Hall, Stafford

The current building is the third of similar function on the site.[1] The county court met in Stafford as early as 1176.[1] A shire hall, home to the county court and other civic functions, stood on the north side of what is now Market Square in the 1280s.[1] In the 1580s, the decision was made to rebuild the shire hall, on a new site,[1] but this was not completed until 1607, probably due to difficulties raising the money needed.[1] By 1793, it had been decided, due to the building’s poor condition caused by inadequate maintenance, that a new building was needed,[1] and the Stafford Shire Hall Act 1794 was passed by Parliament.[5]

Designs were submitted by Samuel Wyatt, then working at nearby Shugborough Hall, and by John Nash, but the one chosen was by John Harvey - his only significant building.[1] Harvey had worked as Wyatt's assistant or pupil,[2] and Wyatt is believed to have been involved in the final Neoclassical style design.[1][2]

Building began in 1795, and the hall was completed in 1798.[1][2] The hall has nine ashlar bays[2] above a rusticated ground floor.[2] The portico has an architrave and pediment, supported by four Doric columns.[1] Figures of Justice and Mercy, by John Rossi and his partner John Bingley, recline on the pediment.[1] A clock was placed between them in 1799, instead of the planned figure of Britannia from Harvery's original design.[1] Also abandoned was Wyatt's proposal to include judges' living accommodation.[1]

Immediately behind the facade is the Great Hall, 72 by 32 by 39 feet (22 m × 10 m × 12 m), with three galleries.[1] Beyond this are the two courtrooms: Court 1 (now open to the public, with displays of museum artefacts related to crime and policing) for the High Court and Court 2, the magistrates' court.[1] The latter has many original fittings, but the former was enlarged by the county surveyor, Charles Trubshaw, and refitted by local joiner Thomas Bull, in 1854.[1]

The 1854 remodelling extended the building over a market for dairy produce, The Butter Market. As a result, a new market hall was built nearby, across the market square.[1] The basement included a guard room (holding cell) for prisoners, and the Mayor of Stafford's office.[1] In 1947, one of the courtrooms was used in the filming of Blanche Fury, starring Stewart Granger.[1]

The memorial to Thomas Noon Talfourd

John Sparrow was Chairman of Stafford Quarter Sessions when the new building opened. His portrait, by William Owen, is in Court 2.[1] Another judge, Thomas Noon Talfourd, collapsed and died while in the court. He is commemorated by a bust, sculpted by John Graham Lough, in Court 1.[1]

Among those tried at the Shire Hall were the forger William Booth, who was convicted before Simon Le Blanc and hanged outside Stafford Gaol in 1812.[6][7] The trial in the case of the murder of Christina Collins was held there in July 1839: Colin Dexter based his eighth Inspector Morse novel, The Wench Is Dead on the case.[6] In 1923, George Stagg was convicted of the murder by shooting of Aston Villa footballer Tommy Ball. His death sentence was commuted, and he died in 1966 in a mental hospital in Birmingham.[8][9] In 1970, Raymond Leslie Morris was convicted of the Cannock Chase murders in the Shire Hall[6] and, in 1979, the spree killer, Barry Williams, was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility there.[10]

The Shire Hall continued to be used as a criminal court until the Stafford Combined Court Centre in Victoria Square opened in 1991.[1] Staffordshire County Council decided to renovate and adapt it, completing the work in 1993 with some funding by English Heritage.[1] The Great Hall became an art gallery, featuring visiting exhibitions and temporary displays of material from the Staffordshire County Museum collection,[1] and occasionally part of the Staffordshire Hoard.[11] The former courtyard was glazed over and is now part of a suite of council offices, including the former Grand Jury Room which retains part of its 18th-century dado.[1] The gallery closed in July 2017.[12] The building continues to be used for one-off events and various options for future use have been submitted to the county council for consideration.[13][14]

• Grade II* listed buildings in Stafford (borough)
• Listed buildings in Stafford (Central Area)

• Shire Hall Gallery official web page archived on archive.org