Within the shadow of the hulking mass that is Ripon Cathedral lies another well-preserved historic survival: the Georgian courthouse. Built in 1830, the courthouse was designed by the renowned architect William Walker, who carefully crafted its elegant façade in the popular neo-Classical style, its Doric columns supporting an entablature and pediment evoking a sense of authority and tradition. Likely constructed upon the site of the medieval Liberty Court, the earlier building was one of a series clustered around the Archiepiscopal Palace and housed the Quarter Sessions proceedings.
Today the small, rectangular courthouse remains virtually unchanged since it was constructed supposedly by a local builder named Michael Foxton, who was able to re-use some stones from the medieval building. Comprising a small jury room, a larger and more comfortable Retiring Room and a main Courtroom, there was also originally a public gallery to the rear of the courtroom for the public to view the more interesting cases.
The Ripon Courthouse heard cases from across the Liberty of Ripon, a jurisdictional territory which enjoyed its own independence as a county under the Archbishop of York, and comprised the parish of Ripon and its numerous chapelries. These types of courts held were originally the Former Quarter Sessions, occurring four times a year and dealt with all manner of local criminal and civil matters. Though punishments meted out were most often physical, offenders, on occasion, would also be transported to Australia. After Quarter Sessions ceased in 1953, the court continued as a Magistrates Court, with an extension added in 1981 until it closed for good in 1998.
However, the courthouse did not remain empty for long and reopened as a museum two years later in 2000, with displays illustrating the building’s history and the tales of people who passed through its doors. It is now one of three museums dedicated to law and order, alongside the Ripon Union Workhouse and Ripon Prison & Police Museum.
Address: Ripon Courthouse Museum, Minster Rd, Ripon HG4 1QS, UK
Books by Dr Emma Wells
