Kingston upon Hull Combined Court Centre

Judicial building in Kingston upon Hull, England

Shown in the East Riding of Yorkshire

The Kingston upon Hull Combined Court Centre is a Crown Court venue, which deals with criminal cases, as well as a County Court, which deals with civil cases, in Lowgate, Kingston upon Hull, England.

History

Until the early 1990s, all criminal court hearings were held in the Guildhall.^[1] However, as the number of court cases in Kingston upon Hull grew, it became necessary to commission a more modern courthouse. The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, on the east side of Lowgate, had been had been occupied by a piece of land known in the 19th century as "George Yard"^[2] which had been occupied by a Wesleyan Chapel before becoming home to the Queen's Hall in 1905.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The new building was designed by the Building Design Partnership, built in red brick with stone dressings at a cost of £11.3 million,^[6] and was officially opened by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay, on 18 October 1991.^[7]^[8] The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing southwest onto a small courtyard just off Lowgate. The central section, of three bays, featured a short flight of steps leading up to a glass doorway with a stone architrave. There was an oriel window surmounted by a stone panel with a carved Royal coat of arms on the first floor and a flagpole framed by a round headed structure at attic level. The outer bays, which were flanked by pilasters, featured lancet windows on the first floor and round headed structures containing louvers at attic level. The wings were fenestrated by casement windows on both floors and the left hand wing featured a tower with a dome at the corner with Alfred Gelder Street. At roof level, there was also a large central dome. Internally, the building was laid out to accommodate 14 courtrooms.^[9]

Notable cases have included the trial and conviction of the footballer, Jonathan Woodgate, in December 2001, for an incident of affray outside the Majestyk nightclub in Leeds, in which a student was left with injuries to his face.^[10]^[11]^[12]

References

^ Morley, Ian (1 May 2001). "Examples of Provincial Civic Design in Britain, circa 1880 to 1914" (PDF). University of Sheffield. p. 342. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Ordnance Survey Map". 1914. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Kingston upon Hull, George Yard Chapel, Yorkshire, Denomination: Wesleyan: Births and Deaths". National Archives. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Hull, George Yard Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Yorkshire". My Wesleyan Methodists. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Hull". A History of Methodism. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Capital Building Programme". Hansard. 26 January 1996. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
^ Mulcahy, Linda; Rowden, Emma (2019). The Democratic Courthouse: A Modern History of Design, Due Process and Dignity. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-0429558689.
^ "Address by the Lord Chancellor at the opening of the Kingston upon Hull Combined Court Centre, 18 October 1991". Ministry of Justice Library Catalogue. 17 March 2011. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Kingston upon Hull". Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Woodgate avoids prison after guilty verdict". The Guardian. 14 December 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Soccer player is found guilty of affray and cleared of grievous bodily harm". The Irish Times. 15 December 2001. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
^ "Before Johnson: Ched Evans, Jonathan Woodgate and eight other shamed footballers". The Yorkshire Post. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2023.