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Bristol Crown Court

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Bristol Crown Court
Small Street, Bristol, 2018 (cropped).jpg
Bristol Crown Court (the stone building on the right)
LocationSmall Street, Bristol
Coordinates51°27′17″N 2°35′42″W / 51.4548°N 2.5949°W / 51.4548; -2.5949Coordinates: 51°27′17″N 2°35′42″W / 51.4548°N 2.5949°W / 51.4548; -2.5949
Built1868
ArchitectJames Williams
Architectural style(s)Italianate style
Bristol Crown Court is located in Bristol
Bristol Crown Court
Shown in Bristol

The Bristol Crown Court is a Crown Court venue which deals with criminal cases at Small Street in Bristol, England. The building, which was completed in 1868, was previously used as a main post office before it was converted for judicial use in the early 1990s.

History

Illustration showing the building in 1890
Illustration showing the building in 1890

The site currently occupied by the crown court on the west side of Small Street was originally occupied by a mansion known as "Creswicks", the home of Henry Creswick who was mayor of Bristol from 1660 to 1661.[1] The mansion was acquired by Edward Colston's brother, Thomas, who erected a new house on the site, probably in the early 18th century.[2] The house was demolished in the mid-19th century to make way for a new main post office to replace an earlier main post office which had operated on the southeast side of Cora Street.[3]

The foundation stone for the new building was laid on the 18 February 1867.[4] It was designed by James Williams in the Italianate style, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened on 25 March 1868. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of fifteen bays facing onto Small Street. The central bay, which was slightly recessed, featured a round headed opening formed by columns supporting imposts, an arch and a keystone. The wings featured central recesses of three bays each containing polished Doric order columns. The other bays on the ground floor were fenestrated by sash windows separated by Doric order pilasters, while the first floor was fenestrated by sash windows with cornices supported by brackets and the second floor was fenestrated by smaller square shaped sash windows. At roof level, there was a cornice and a balustraded parapet. The building was extended to create a new wing, designed by Edward Rivers, for the accommodation of postal staff in 1889. The works provided difficult because they required the demolition of the old cellars of "Creswicks".[5] The building was extended again, to a design by John Rutherford, in 1909.[3]

The building closed as a post office in the 1980s and was converted into a courthouse, to a design by Stride Treglown,[6] between 1989 and 1993.[7]The Crown Court, which had met in the Guildhall on the opposite side of the road, moved into the building in December 1993.[8]

Notable cases at Bristol Crown Court have included the trial and conviction of 15 defendents accused of dugs offences following Operation Julie in the 1970s,[9] the trial and subsequent conviction of Gary Glitter accused of downloading child pornography in 1999[10] and the trial and subsequent acquittal of four defendants accused of criminal damage in relation to the removal and dumping in the canal of the controversial statue of Edward Colston during a protest in 2020.[11]

Discover more about History related topics

Edward Colston

Edward Colston

Edward Colston was an English merchant, slave trader, philanthropist, and Tory Member of Parliament.

Italianate architecture

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, synthesising these with picturesque aesthetics. The style of architecture that was thus created, though also characterised as "Neo-Renaissance", was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms the past according to his own nature."

Ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is finely dressed stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.

Impost (architecture)

Impost (architecture)

In architecture, an impost or impost block is a projecting block resting on top of a column or embedded in a wall, serving as the base for the springer or lowest voussoir of an arch.

Keystone (architecture)

Keystone (architecture)

A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone at the apex of a masonry arch or typically round-shaped one at the apex of a vault. In both cases it is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch or vault to bear weight. In arches and vaults keystones are often enlarged beyond the structural requirements and decorated. A variant in domes and crowning vaults is a lantern.

Doric order

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of columns. Originating in the western Doric region of Greece, it is the earliest and, in its essence, the simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature above.

Cornice

Cornice

In architecture, a cornice is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a pedestal, or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown, as in crown moulding atop an interior wall or above kitchen cabinets or a bookcase.

Bracket (architecture)

Bracket (architecture)

A bracket is an architectural element: a structural or decorative member. It can be made of wood, stone, plaster, metal, or other media. It projects from a wall, usually to carry weight and sometimes to "...strengthen an angle". A corbel or console are types of brackets.

Baluster

Baluster

A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its construction are wood, stone, and less frequently metal and ceramic. A group of balusters supporting a handrail, coping, or ornamental detail are known as a balustrade.

Bristol Guildhall

Bristol Guildhall

Bristol Guildhall is a municipal building in Broad Street, Bristol, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. It was built in the 1840s on the site of the previous guildhall and used as a courthouse from the 1860s to 1993. Various plans for its use as an art gallery and hotel were then proposed. In March 2020 it was damaged by a fire which led to its roof collapsing.

Gary Glitter

Gary Glitter

Paul Francis Gadd, best known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former glam rock singer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after he was imprisoned for downloading child pornography in 1999. He was also convicted of child sexual abuse in 2006 and a series of sexual offences in 2015.

Child pornography

Child pornography

Child pornography is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a child or it may be simulated child pornography. Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts or lascivious exhibitions of genitals or pubic areas which are recorded in the production of child pornography. Child pornography may use a variety of mediums, including writings, magazines, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, video, and video games. Child pornography may be created for profit or other reasons.

Archives

Records of the Bristol Courts of Assizes and the Quarter Sessions, which preceded the Crown Court, are held at Bristol Archives (Ref. JQS) (online catalogue). Bristol Crown Court records from 1972 onwards are held at the National Archives UK.[12]

Source: "Bristol Crown Court", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 18th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Crown_Court.

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References
  1. ^ "Bristol Mayors & Sheriffs". Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  2. ^ Tombs, Robert Charles (20 July 2022). The King's Post: Being a Volume of Historical Facts Relating to the Posts, Mail Coaches, Coach Roads, and Railway Mail Services of and Connected With the City of Bristol From 1580 to the Present Time. Legare Street Press. ISBN 978-1018474205.
  3. ^ a b "Bristol Post Office". Bristol Times and Mirror. 21 March 1868. p. 8. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Bristol Post Office". Western Daily Mail. 25 March 1868. p. 3. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  5. ^ Latimer, John (1902). "The Annals of Bristol in the Nineteenth Century". William George's Sons. p. 4.
  6. ^ Mulcahy, Linda; Rowden, Emma (2019). The Democratic Courthouse: A Modern History of Design, Due Process and Dignity. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 978-0429558689.
  7. ^ "Bristol Crown Court, Small Street". Bristol's Old City. 28 February 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  8. ^ Historic England. "Guildhall (Formerly Listed as The Assize Court) (1282368)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  9. ^ Ebenezer, Lyn (2010). Operation Julie: The World's Greatest LSD Bust. Y Lolfa. ISBN 978-1847711465.
  10. ^ "Glitter jailed over child porn". BBC News. 12 November 1999. Retrieved 18 June 2007.
  11. ^ Damien Gayle (13 December 2021). "Accused said Colston statue was 'an abhorrent offence' to Bristol, trial hears". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2023.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "National Archives Discovery Catalogue, Bristol Crown Court page". Retrieved 9 June 2016.
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