Sessions House, Sleaford

Sessions House
Sessions House, Sleaford
Location	Market Place, Sleaford
Coordinates	52°59′59″N0°24′37″W / 52.9998°N 0.4102°W / 52.9998; -0.4102 Coordinates: 52°59′59″N0°24′37″W / 52.9998°N 0.4102°W / 52.9998; -0.4102
Built	1831
Architect	Henry Edward Kendall
Architectural style(s)	Gothic revival style
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name	Town Hall (Sessions House)
Designated	16 July 1949
Reference no.	1307024
Shown in Lincolnshire

The Sessions House, also known as Sleaford Town Hall, is a judicial structure in the Market Place, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England. The structure, which used to be the main courthouse for the county of Kesteven, is a Grade II* listed building. ^[1]

History

The first venue for the quarter sessions in Sleaford was an earlier sessions house in the southwest corner of the Market Place which dated back to 1755. In the early 19th century, the justices complained that the old sessions hall was dilapidated, but the lord of the manor, Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol, refused to carry out repairs. He eventually agreed to sell the old building to the justices so that they could fund the building of a new courthouse. ^{[2] [3]} The site the justices selected was in the northwest corner of the Market Place. The new building was designed by Henry Edward Kendall in the Gothic revival style, built in ashlar stone at a cost of £7,000 ^[4] and was completed in 1831. ^{[5] [6]}

The detailed design and construction was supervised by Charles Kirk. ^[7] The design involved a canted main frontage on the corner of North Gate and Market Street. The main frontage featured an arched opening with a hood mould on the ground floor, a bi-partite mullioned and transomed window on the first floor and a prominent clock above. The North Gate frontage, of two bays, involved a colonnade on the ground floor, bi-partite mullioned and transomed windows on the first floor and small square windows at attic level, while the Market Street frontage of five bays involved a colonnade on the ground floor and a row of bi-partite mullioned and transomed windows with quatrefoils in the arches on the first floor. There was a castellated belt course above the colonnade and a castellated parapet at roof level. On the Market Street frontage, the outer bays were flanked by full-height buttresses. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom in which the quarter sessions were held. ^[8]

A drinking fountain, commissioned to commemorate the life of Frederick Hervey, 2nd Marquess of Bristol and protected by a pyramid-shaped roof supported by four marble columns, was unveiled outside the building in 1874. ^[9]

The building was also used as a venue for public meetings and, in that capacity, was referred to as the "Town Hall". ^[10] The building also continued to be used as a facility for dispensing justice but, in 2008, the building was declared no longer fit for purpose and magistrates court hearings were transferred to Grantham. ^[2]

In 2009, the restaurateur, Vito Cataffo, acquired the building and initiated works to convert the ground floor of the sessions house for restaurant use and the first floor for office space. ^{[11] [12]} Cataffo, who presented the Channel 4, television programme Dolce Vito – Dream Restaurant , died the following year. ^{[13] [14]} The drinking fountain was restored with financial support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Lincolnshire Community Foundation, in 2019. ^[15]

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in North Kesteven
• Listed buildings in Sleaford

References

1. Historic England. "Town Hall (Sessions House) (1307024)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 4 April 2023.
2. "Sessions House". Sleaford and District Civic Trust. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
3. Journals of the House of Commons. Vol. 74. UK Parliament. 1818. p. 79.
4. Chalklin, Christopher W. (1998). English Counties and Public Building, 1650–1830. Hambledon Press. ISBN   978-1852851538.
5. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Harris, John; Antram, Nicholas (1989). Lincolnshire (Buildings of England Series). Yale University Press. p. 654. ISBN   978-0300096200.
6. "Town Hall (Sessions House), Market Place, Sleaford". Lincolnshire Heritage Explorer. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
7. Brock, David (1984). "The Competition for the Design of Sleaford Sessions House, 1828". Architectural History. pp. 344–355.
8. "No. 22797". The London Gazette . 15 December 1863. p. 6543.
9. Historic England. "Drinking Fountain (1360443)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 4 April 2023.
10. Reports of Proceedings. Associations of gas engineers and managers, United Kingdom. 1900. p. 259. Eastern Counties Association, Half-Yearly Meeting, September 20. This meeting was held in the Town Hall.
11. "Making a market". Lincolnshire Life. 1 September 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
12. "A taste of England in Italy". Newark Advertiser. 21 August 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
13. "Vito Cataffo, famed restaurateur, dies at 59". The Lincolnite. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
14. "Vito Cataffo". Southern Daily Echo. 7 October 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
15. "Historic water fountain in Sleaford to be restored after 90 years of neglect". Lincolnshire Live. 25 April 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2023.