County Hall - High Street, Lewes, UK
N 50° 52.384 E 000° 00.608
31U E 289649 N 5639969
The Lewes Borough Council plaque attached to this building indicates that it was built as the County Hall in 1812. It is located on the north west side of the High Street in Lewes.
Waymark Code: WMPYCY
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/10/2015
Views: 1
The building is Grade II* listed with the entry at the Historic England website telling us:
County Hall, now law courts. 1808-1812 by John Johnson, extended and converted into courts in later C19. Portland stone with slate roof. Main block framed by slightly projecting wings with recessed wing to right. 2 storeys with mezzanine over first floor. Tall plinth to rusticated ground floor. Deep platband over ground floor. Bracketted cornice to roof with central dormer masked by frame carrying Royal Arms. 7 windows in 1 - 3 - 1 - 2 rhythm, the two bays to the right a later C19 extension in similar style but set back from the main front. Casement windows in outer bays of main block on 2nd floor, in raised and moulded square surrounds. 3 panels in centre with Coade stone plaques of Wisdom, Justice and Mercy, designed by Johnson. Tall transom and mullion wood-framed windows on first floors in raised and moulded surrounds, those in outer bays with triangular pediments, those in the central 3 bays with cornice hoods on small brackets over entablatures with rosette decoration. Blank balustraded panels in platband under first floor windows. Single glazing bar sashes with rusticated gauged heads in outer bays. 5 bay Doric columnar screen on ground floor of recess, the-central 3 bays recessed behind, the outer built forward to screen with rusticated walling and single glazing bar sashes on each side. 3 arched doorways to rear in centre with doubled half-glazed doors and large radiating fanlights, separated by attached half- columns. Iron spearhead gates to the 3 bays of the screen. Steps up to screen from street and also to the doorways behind. Large square glazed lantern hanging from central intercolumniation of screen.
Interior: Hall; 2 large Doric columns supporting entablature acting as screen. Staircase behind hall; single flight stair with cast-iron baluster and wooden rail. Court rooms Nos 1 & 2: basically identical. Mid - late C19 interiors top-lit with coved ceilings and large rectangular area above, all with Italianate decoration. Gallery with balustrade on deep volute brackets. French-influenced back to bench with coved hood to Judge's seat.
The British History website adds:
The County Hall was erected in 1812 from the designs of Mr. John Johnston of Camden Town. It is faced with Portland stone and has an open colonnade (now partly filled in) on the ground floor between two wings of which the lower parts are in rusticated masonry. Behind on the ground floor are the Courts where the assizes, &c., are held. The first floor is occupied by a large room 60 ft. by 30 ft. and 27 ft. high, lighted by tall windows on the street front. Above the three central windows are panels carved in relief, and the whole building is crowned by a simple modillion cornice.
Wikipedia has an entry about Lewes Crown Court that tells us:
Lewes Crown Court is a Crown Court in Lewes, East Sussex, England. It is housed in the Lewes Combined Court Centre which it shares with Lewes County Court in the Lewes High Street. The Portland stone building, originally established as East Sussex County Hall, was designed by John Johnson and built between 1808 and 1812.
It is the first tier Crown Court Centre for the whole of Sussex and is presided over by a Circuit Judge, known as the Resident Judge. The present Resident Judge is Her Honour Judge Shani Barnes who took over from His Honour Judge Richard Brown DL (The first Honorary Recorder of Brighton and Hove and a Senior Circuit Judge) on his retirement in 2013. There are 4 Crown courts at Lewes, 4 at Hove and 2 in Brighton, making it a 10 Crown court centre. There are about 10 full-time Circuit Judges based at the Centre, and they are assisted from time to time by part-time Judges, known as Recorders.
A number of very high profile criminal trials have taken place at Lewes including the case of Roy Whiting (convicted of the murder of Sarah Payne), Graham Coutts (convicted of the murder of schoolteacher Jane Longhurst), Andrew Wragg (manslaughter of a seriously ill child of the family) These follow on from other notorious murder trials in the past, including serial killer John George Haigh.
In April 2011 the New Sussex Opera Group were permitted to perform the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Trial by Jury in Court number one. The organiser, and one of the star performers, was former Judge Michael Kennedy QC.
- 1920: The "Crumbles Murder case" in which Jack Field and William Thomas were convicted of the murder of Irene Munro.
- 1930: The trial of Sidney Harry Fox for the murder of his mother for insurance money.
- 1934: The acquittal of Tony Mancini for the "Brighton Trunk Murder" of Violet Kaye, to which he later confessed.
- 1949: John George Haigh, the "acid bath murderer".
- 1956: John Bodkin Adams, previously acquitted of murder at the Old Bailey, was tried at Lewes for collateral offences.
- 2001: Roy Whiting was tried and convicted of the murder of Sarah Payne.
- 2004: Graham Coutts was tried and convicted of the murder of schoolteacher Jane Longhurst.
- 2004: Andrew Wragg was acquitted of murdering his son and sentenced to two years for manslaughter.
- 2009: Martin and Nathan Winter, and Alpha Fireworks Ltd were found guilty of the manslaughter of two East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service firefighters in the 2006 Marlie Farm Fireworks Explosion.
- 2010 Mrs Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale was acquitted of the attempted murder of her daughter, Lynn Gilderdale (an ME sufferer)