The Galleries of Justice museum is a tourist attraction on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham, England. It is home to The Villainous Sheriff of Nottingham where you will discover Nottingham's horrible history and delve into the dark and disturbing past of Crime and Punishment
The courtrooms date back to the 14th century and the gaol dates back to at least 1449. The prisons are still there. There was also a working police station from 1905 to 1985, and the courts closed in 1991.
The museum is housed in what was once a fully functioning Victorian courtroom and claims to be "The only site in the country where you could be arrested, sentenced and executed." (stated by Tim Desmond, Chief Executive of Galleries of Justice).
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The Galleries of Justice are housed in a building called Shire Hall, which stands in the Lace Market area of Nottingham.
The earliest confirmed use of the site for official purposes was by the Normans, who appointed sheriffs to keep the peace and collect taxes; hence the site was also referred to as the Sheriff's Hall, the County Hall or the Kings Hall.
The first written record of the site being used as a law court dates from 1375. The first written reference to its use as a prison is in 1449.
Many different buildings have occupied the site over the centuries. 17th-century documentation relates to the building and a need for it to be re-built. However, no action was taken until 1724, when a courtroom floor collapsed. The Nottingham Courant in March 1724 recorded:
On Monday morning, after the Judge had gone into the County Hall, and a great crowd of people being there, a tracing or two that supported the floor broke and fell in and several people fell in with it, about three yards into the cellar underneath. Some were bruised, but one man named Fellingham was pretty much hurt, one leg being stript to the bone, and was much hurt. This caused great consternation in Court, some apprehending the Hall might fall, others crying out "Fire"! etc. which made several people climb out of the windows. The Judge, being also terribly frightened, cried out "A plot! A plot!", but the consternation soon being over the Court proceeded to business.
The Hall was re-built between 1769 - 1772. The architect was James Gandon from London and cost about £2,500 (£296,887 as of 2012),[1]. The builder was James Pickford of Derby. The inscription on the top of the building reads:
This County Hall was erected in the year MDCCLXX and in the tenth year of the reign of His Majesty George III.
The building was fronted by an iron pallisade to help control unruly crowds on the occasion of a public hanging.
Additional wings were added sometime between 1820 and 1840. Changes were made to the nisi prius court in 1833. The judges' retiring room, barristers' robing room and office for a clerk were added in 1844.[2]
A new grand jury room was added in 1859 to designs by the architect Richard Charles Sutton.[3]
In 1876 major improvements were made and the front was redesigned in a style described as Italianate by Mr. Bliss-Sanders of Nottingham. Within a few weeks a fire broke out and nearly destroyed all of the newly completed work.[4]
The courts were largely rebuilt following the fire by Thomas Chambers Hine in 1876 - 1879. The prison gaol closed in 1878.[5]
A police station was added beside the building in 1905.
The current building houses two courtrooms, office space, and underground jail and a site used for executions.
The Victorians closed the jail due to appalling conditions and it lay empty between 1878 and 1995; however, the Hall continued in use as Nottingham's civil and criminal courts until 1991, when Nottingham Crown Court was constructed at another location in the city.
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