Shire Hall (Monmouth)
Shire Hall, Monmouth
The Shire Hall in the center of Monmouth, Wales, is a registered arranged by the British heritage authority as grade I- building urban striking building in the Baroque style. It was built in 1724 and served as a meeting place at the Circuit Courts and Quarter Sessions ( quarter sessions ) of the historic area of Monmouthshire were held. 1839/40 was here the trial of the Chartist leader John Frost and other sick who had been indicted for their participation in the Newport Rising, an armed rebellion workers, of high treason. The open plan ground floor of the courthouse was used as a marketplace. The Shire Hall is owned by Monmouthshire County Council and offers visitors audiovisual guides to the courtroom 1 Today the building is used as a tourist center and office building of Monmouth Town Council, and is partially open to the general public.
History
The present building was built in 1724 and is the fourth building at least at this point. At the same location previously was a 1536 -built Elizabethan court building, which had been partially replaced in 1571 by a half-timbered building. Beams of the original building have been used in the construction of the Shire Hall. Above the ground floor with stone arcades and an open trading area there are rooms. The building, the factory Buildings of Wales (about " a big deal " ) refers to the number of Pevsner Architectural Guides as "a mighty affair" is built from the southern English stone Bath stone, was designed by the little-known Archtkten Philip Fisher ( † 1776) designed from Bristol and cost £ 1700's. 1725 the Circuit Courts were moved into the building. The courtroom itself was located on the first floor via the open arches to the market area. The clock in the gable was made in 1765 by Richard Watkins in 1765.
The interior of the building was redesigned in 1828 and extended to the exterior staircase tower with a glazed roof lantern and an impressive staircase. The architect Thomas Hopper was involved with royal assent ( " Royal assent " ) to the improvements to the Shire Hall. He also acted long years the expansion of Penrhyn Castle in Bangor with. He and Edward Haydock extended the Shire Hall in the direction of Agincourt Street, thus creating the space for the new staircase and larger courtrooms. Hopper lived during this time in the Monnoe Street in Monmouth.
Statue of King Henry V
The statue of Henry V of England (* 1387 in Monmouth ), in a niche above the main entrance and the clock, is generally considered lower quality. It was described as " incongruous " (does not fit the style of the environment ), " rather deplorable", (rather miserably ) and " pathetic .. like a hypochondriac inspecting his thermometer ". ( pathetisch.. like a hypochondriac, who checked his thermometer ) refers. The sculpture was added in 1792 by Charles Peart, a sculptor who was born in nearby Newton English. The inscription reads HENRY V, BORN AT MONMOUTH, AUG 9TH 1387th (Henry V was born in Monmouth, August 9, 1387 ). The stone-carved date of birth is now regarded as wrong.
Process of the Chartists
The Prison of Monmouth was not far away from the courtrooms. The Chartist Henry Vincent, who had fought for the right of all men to be able to vote in parliamentary elections, was imprisoned here before he was brought to trial by jury. Vincent was indeed guilty, but little popular condemnation led to protests in which miners were at a meeting with the military on November 4, 1839 in Newport, Newport Rising known as later killed.
John Frost was arrested shortly after the uprising, then, other leaders of the group. On December 10, 1839 a special court opened in the Shire Hall in the case and appointed a grand jury ( grand jury ) advised that charges one could say. At the grand jury were Lord Granville Somerset, brother of the Duke of Beaufort, John Etherington Welch Rolls, Octavius Morgan and four Members of Parliament, Joseph Bailey, William Addams Williams, Reginald James Blewitt and Benjamin Hall. Frost, William Jones, Zephaniah Williams and five other people were properly charged with treason, so their procedure started on 31 December. This process was called "one of the most important treason trials in the annals of British law" ( one of the main treason processes in the history of British law ). The judges were the Lord Chief Justice Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, James Parke and John Williams, who was known that he had in 1834, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, a group organized farm workers, banished to the penal colony in Australia ( " transportation" ). Representatives of the British Crown was the Attorney- General John Campbell, Fosts lawyer was Frederick Pollock.
During the process, precautions were taken to Monmouth to protect against rebellious Chartists. The inn White Swan troops were quartered, others were stationed at the gatehouse Monnow Bridge. Granville Somerset and Benjamin Hall campaigned for Frost's defense. Lord Chief Justice Tindal pointed out that there is a need for a guilty verdict secure evidence, and argued for an acquittal. All eight men were indeed guilty, but the jury completed the verdict to a pardon. On January 16, 1840, the judge sentenced Frost, Jones and Williams to the usual punishment for treason " hanged, disembowelled and quartered " to be. They were the last people in England who were condemned to such penalty. The other five men were punished with banishment to a penal colony. On January 29, a day before his scheduled execution, the British Cabinet under Lord Melbourne followed the advice of Lord Chief Justice Tindal, and asked Queen Victoria all judgments in exile to soften. On 2 February 1840, the prisoners were brought to Chepstow, thence by steamer Usk to Portsmouth, where they came to the ship at Spithead and with over 200 other convicts to Van Diemen 's Land (now Tasmania ) were deported.
Current usage
The former residents of the Shire Hall Magistrates Court, the Court rangniederste in the organization of courts in England and Wales, completed in 1997, the County Court in 2002. Administrative Monmouthshire County Council applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund money and received a grant of £ 3.2 million the complete renovation of the building, as well as further their own grant funding of over £ 1 million from the County Council. The renovation began in late 2008, and the renewed building reopened in September 2010. Among the areas available to visitors include the courtroom, in the 1840, the process to frost and Other was performed. One of the main construction work was the installation of an elevator makes it accessible for everyone the entire building. In the building there are now a tourist center and offices. The building is from April to September, seven days a week from 10.00 - 16.00 clock open to the public, closed in winter Sundays, however.
Environment
The Shire Hall is like 24 other sights in the city to the local tourist path Monmouth Heritage Trail. On the Agincourt Square, the square directly in front of the Shire Hall, is a 1911 -positioned statue in honor of Charles Rolls, the aerospace and automobile pioneer and co-founder of Rolls Royce, whose family came from the area. The Kings Head Hotel, on the opposite side of the square, dates from the middle of the 17th century and to have been visited in 1645 by King Charles I.. Other notable buildings on the square are the Hotel Beaufort Arms, a former coaching inn dating from the early 18th century, the Punch House, also a former hostel, and the Agincourt House, a remarkable building with half-timbered from the early 17th century. The Shire Hall and the surrounding area were used in 2008 for a Christmas special of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. This area can also be seen in the graphic novel The Interactives.
Pictures
Shire Hall, 1939
Shire Hall and Agincourt Square, 1958
Shire Hall, 2008 front page center section, with the two statues and a market stall
Detail of the statue of Charles Rolls
The Shire Hall during renovation 2009
Shire Hall and Agincourt Square shown in the graphic novel The Interactives