County Court - Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK
Posted by: 
dtrebilc
N 54° 58.210 W 001° 37.026
30U E 588524 N 6092346
This classical style stone building was built in 1864 and was the county court.
Waymark Code: WMNM8B
Location: North East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/02/2015
Views: 4
The building became an English Heritage Grade II Listed building in 1971.
link
The building was erected during the reign of Queen Victoria and a large stone carving of her coat of arms is displayed on top of an arch at the left of the building.
UK courts of law display the monarch's coat of arms because the monarch is the fount of justice in the UK and the law Court is part of the Court of the monarch.
The lion on the arms of The United Kingdom is the heraldic device used to represent England. We can tell that this is an old version of the coat of arms because the current monarch uses a plain harp on the shield to represent Northern Ireland rather than a harp with a winged female as is the case here.
It is a rather grand version of the arms, and instead of being carved in relief as normal, the arms are made with 3D figures of the lion and the unicorn. They are shown in the prone position rather than standing as is the normal case.
There are also 5 carved female heads above the ground floor windows including that of Justice.
This court was finally replaced by a much large building next to the River Tyne in 1993. These days this building houses a firm of solicitors.