Description

STAFFORD

SJ9223SW MARKET SQUARE 590-1/10/68 (East side) 16/01/51 Shire Hall and attached railings, gates and lamp standards (Formerly Listed as: MARKET SQUARE Shire Hall) (Formerly Listed as: MARKET SQUARE Railings, gates and lamp standards of Shire Hall)

GV II*

County court house. 1795-8, extended 1854. By John Harvey, a pupil of Samuel Wyatt, who may have contributed to the design. Neo-classical style. MATERIALS: ashlar with hipped slate roof; brick rear wings. PLAN: double-depth. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys; symmetrical 9-window range; ground floor breaks forward under 3-window centre with applied tetrastyle Doric portico with Ionic entablature. Ground floor is rusticated; 1st floor sill band; top frieze, cornice and blocking course. Round-headed entrance in recess with similar flanking recesses has C20 paired doors. 1st floor has windows with 6/9-pane sashes, those flanking centre with wrought-iron window box supports, and alternately rectangular and round panels above. Pediment has clock with flanking relief figures. Right return has similar details; a 3-window range; ground floor has 3 round-headed blind windows, 2 with fanlights, one to right end with inserted entrance with studded paired doors; 1st floor has blind window with panel over flanked by tripartite windows in round-headed recesses with 12:24:12-pane sashes, cornices and round panels to tympana. Left return similar, 4-window range; with 3rd tripartite sash to left end; 2 windows have 2:4:2-pane horned tripartite sashes. Rear wing to left has ashlar dressings; windows have wedge lintels over varied sashes; short elliptical arcade and left end carriage entrance. INTERIOR: double-height Shire Hall is full width of facade; top entablature with bucrania and festoons, and segmental barrel vault; side has segmental-headed entrance with similar flanking recesses with cast-iron railings and central gate. Canted recess above has Ionic colonnade with 2 pairs of columns and single columns to ends and balustrade, paired doors with large fanlight to rear; similar end recesses with tetrastyle colonnades. Ceiling has guilloche bands and 3 rosettes, formerly with chandeliers. Stair to rear is probably C19, with turned balusters and C19 screen with stained glass panels. Court No.1 to left has canted ends and entablature with swags and coved ceiling with large rose; contemporary panelling and fittings including jury box, public gallery, and prisoner's box with spiked railings; end wall has hipped canopy with central bowed projection over judge's chair, with Royal arms above; right wall has memorial to Sir TN Talfourd, d 1854 while addressing grand jury, in form of pedimented panel with bust in niche. Court No.2 has mostly C18 fittings with flush panels; C20 suspended ceiling; fluted elliptical canopy above judge's seat. Some original cells remain to basement. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: centre of building has cast-iron railings, with spear finials and 4 wreathed panels with lamp standards, and gates; railings originally extended along the whole facade. One of the finest public buildings in Stafford. The railings, gates and lamp standards were listed on 17.12.71. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Nairn J: Staffordshire: London: 1974-: 243; Victoria County History of Staffordshire: Greenslade MW: A History of Stafford: London: 1979-: 202).

Listing NGR: SJ9223123306

External Links

• Shire Hall, Stafford at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q7498359

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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