Guildford Crown Court

Guildford Crown Court
Guildford Crown Court
Location	Bedford Road, Guildford
Coordinates	51°14′20″N0°34′44″W / 51.2389°N 0.5790°W / 51.2389; -0.5790
Built	1986
Architect	Property Services Agency
Architectural style(s)	Modernist style
Shown in Surrey

Guildford Crown Court is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases in Bedford Road, Guildford, England.

History

King Henry III designated Guildford as a location for the Surrey County Court and assizes in August 1257. ^[1] A corn exchange and assizes hall was established on the site of the former Three Tuns Inn, in the early 19th century; the building, the front of which survives as the "Tunsgate Arch", was designed in the neoclassical style with a tetrastyle portico formed by Tuscan order columns supporting a pediment and completed in 1818. ^{[2] [3]} However, by 1860, the building was found to be "grossly inadequate". ^[4]

The assizes then moved to the County Hall in North Street: that building, which had been commissioned as a mechanics' institute in 1845, was considerably altered and extended for public and judicial use to a design by Thomas Goodchild in 1862. ^[5] It was badly damaged in a fire in 1963 and was subsequently demolished. ^{[6] [7]} As the number of court cases in Guildford grew, it became necessary to commission a modern courthouse. This issue was temporarily resolved when a new law courts building (now referred to as Guildford Magistrates' and County Court) was opened in Mary Road in May 1976. ^[8]

However, what the borough still needed was a courthouse with dedicated facilities for Crown Court hearings, which require courtrooms suitable for trial by jury. The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the west side of Bedford Road, had been occupied by a cricket ground and a gas works. ^[9]

The new building was designed by the Property Services Agency in the Modernist style, built in red brick at a cost of £4.7 million, ^[10] and was completed in 1986. ^[11] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of 23 bays facing onto Bedford Road. The central section of three bays featured a short flight of steps leading up to an opening with two glass doors. Above the opening, there was a pitched roof surmounted by a triangular pediment bearing a Royal coat of arms. The whole structure, including the wings of ten bays each, was single storey and fronted by a prominent colonnade, formed by square columns supporting an entablature. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate six courtrooms. ^[12]

Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of Sally Challen, in June 2011, for the murder of her husband, Richard Challen; her plea to have the conviction reduced to manslaughter was accepted by a judge at the Old Bailey in June 2019. ^{[13] [14]}

References

1. Field, Marion (2022). The story of Guildford (2nd ed.). Andover: Phillimore. p. 18. ISBN   978-0750998994.
2. "Nostalgia: Fascinating history of Guildford's Tunsgate revealed in Surrey Advertiser archives". Get Surrey. 13 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
3. "Investigations Start Into Tunsgate Arch Masonry Fall". The Guildford Dragon. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
4. Chamberlin, Eric Russell (1970). Guildford: a Biography. Macmillan. p. 193. ISBN   978-0333019535. the Guildford Assize courts were found to be grossly inadequate
5. Malden, H. E. (1911). "'The borough of Guildford: Introduction and castle', in A History of the County of Surrey". London: British History Online. pp. 547–560. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
6. "The British Almanac". The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 1863. p. 260.
7. "Theatre Royal (with Borough Hall)". Theatres Trust. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
8. "Throwback Thursday: Guildford in the 1970s". Get Surrey. 15 January 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
9. "Ordnance Survey Map". 1914. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
10. "Capital Building Programme". Hansard. 26 January 1996. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
11. "Courts (Construction)". Hansard. 20 December 1990. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
12. "Guildford". Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
13. "Woman who killed husband with hammer walks free from court". The Irish Times. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
14. "Sally Challen: Husband 'controlled the world around her'". The Irish Times. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2023.

External links

• Court information