Bedford Shire Hall

This imposing Victorian civic building served as the former Assize Courts and Shire Hall, constructed in two main phases to designs by the eminent architect Alfred Waterhouse. The first phase, facing the River Ouse, was built between 1878 and 1881. The second phase, fronting St Paul's Square, followed between 1881 and 1883. The building was further extended in 1899, 1905, 1910, and 1926. It now operates as Magistrates' Courts.

Materials and Construction

The roofs are covered in green Westmoreland slate. The walls are built of red Suffolk brick with red Ruabon terracotta dressings throughout the Victorian phases. The 1910 extension differs slightly, using Westmoreland slate for its roof, red brick walls, and Ketton limestone dressings. The cast- and wrought-iron railings were manufactured by Hart, Son and Peard.

Plan and Layout

The building forms a roughly C-shaped plan, with its northern range facing St Paul's Square and its southern range overlooking the River Ouse. The riverfront building constructed between 1878 and 1881 comprises a rectangular-plan range facing the river with two perpendicular rectangular-plan courtrooms to the rear (north side). An additional bay was added to the east in 1905 and further extended by two more bays in 1926. The street-front building added between 1881 and 1883 includes a rectangular-plan hall north of the courts and a rectangular-plan street-front range overlooking St Paul's Square. The Muniments Room to the west, added in 1899, is roughly square on plan. The 1910 extension to the east of the street-front range is rectangular, with an attached canted council chamber to the rear (south).

Exterior

Street-Front Elevation (1881)

The street-front elevation facing St Paul's Square rises three storeys over a raised basement (constituting the ground floor). The composition is largely symmetrical, featuring a central projecting porch over the ground floor flanked by full-height four-storey canted bays. To the right of the central bay is a tripartite window; to the left, a single window. The pitched roof is covered in green Westmoreland slate with terracotta ridge tiles and finials, and two slender oblong chimneystacks rise over the central bay.

The walls are built of red brick laid in English bond with red terracotta dressings. A machicolation cornice runs above the second floor, and panels of lattice decoration appear over the first floor and the central bay of the second floor. The windows have terracotta surrounds, with mullions and transoms on the larger windows.

The central bay features a lucarne dormer at the third floor bearing the construction date 1881 on its gable and containing a three-light window with terracotta mullions. The third floor of the full-height canted bays have lancet windows with terracotta mullions.

The gabled porch displays a terracotta coat of arms of Bedford. An ornate receding archway features pointed arches, a multifoil arch, and two quarter-engaged columns on each side. Terracotta ornament continues inside the arch, which retains decorative wrought-iron folding gates. Stone steps with a central handrail on a wrought-iron balustrade rise to an internal pointed arch containing double wooden doors with decorative wrought-iron strap hinges. The ground floor is enclosed by wrought-iron railings linked by a decorative cast-iron rail, manufactured by Hart, Son and Peard.

The side elevations of the front range and hall are gabled. The hall has a large pointed-arch and traceried window in each gable.

Muniments Room (1899)

A small courtyard along the west side leads to the Muniments Room, added in 1899. This is a flat-roofed two-storey building over a raised basement. The brickwork and terracotta dressings replicate those of the 1881 building, though the levels differ and the 1899 windows contain geometric tracery. The ground floor has four stone steps to a four-panel door with a rectangular overlight. Wrought-iron railings to the right surround the basement. An additional storey and multi-pitched glazed roof were added in 1929. The parapet bears a terracotta band of floral panels and the date of extension.

Eastern Extension (1910)

On the east side of the 1881 building, the three-storey extension added in 1910 has a pitched roof covered in green Westmoreland slate and three tall red brick chimneystacks with stone dressings to the ridge. The walls are red brick laid in English bond with Ketton limestone dressings and a limestone plinth to sill height.

The street-front elevation has five bays of windows of varying sizes, with stone mullions and transoms and leaded casements. The easternmost bay is gabled over the second floor and has a double-height canted bay projecting from the ground and first floors. The second bay from the east has a flat-arched stone door surround with "1901" and a festoon carved in relief over the lintel, and recessed double wooden doors with 10 panels to each. The westernmost bay has a segmental carriage arch leading to a rear courtyard.

Riverfront Elevation (1878–1881)

The riverfront elevation facing south to the River Ouse was constructed between 1878 and 1881. It stands three storeys high and five bays wide, with projecting gables to the central and outer bays. The pitched roof has a green Westmoreland slate covering, terracotta ridge tiles and finials, and three oblong red brick chimneystacks.

The walls are red brick laid in English bond with terracotta dressings, including a balustraded parapet, a pointed arch on each gable containing panelled ornament, and a continuous band of latticed panels over the first floor. The upper-floor windows generally have six lights with terracotta mullions and transoms. The ground-floor windows have two lights with terracotta mullions.

The central bay has an oriel window to the second floor. A pointed arch spans the ground and first floors, with chamfered reveals and recessed pointed and multifoil arches. Within this arch, stone steps rise to a recessed first-floor entrance with double half-glazed doors, sidelights, and overlights within a segmental arch.

To the east, a projecting bay was added in the same style in 1905 and was further extended eastward in 1926 with an identical projecting bay and a recessed bay. Around 1970, an opening was punctured through the ground floor of the projecting 1905 and 1926 extensions to provide a public walkway along the riverfront. The ground-floor windows on the riverfront were removed and the openings lengthened.

Rear Courtyard

Within the rear courtyard, the east side of the 1878 building has terracotta dressings, three large windows to the courtroom with mullions, transoms and stained glass, and windows and an entrance to the ground-floor cells.

The rear elevation of the 1905 and 1926 extensions continues the terracotta balustraded parapet, latticed band, and dressings of the riverfront elevation. The 1905 extension has a segmental-arched door surround containing late-20th-century doors.

The rear (south) elevation of the 1910 extension has an attached three-storey canted projection (the former council chamber) with a flat roof, red brick walls, and limestone dressings. It has clerestory and ground-floor windows with stone mullions and transoms and leaded lights. The ground floor retains one chamfered limestone door surround containing a panelled door. A first-floor enclosed bridge was added around 1970 linking the rear of the former council chamber and the 1926 extension.

Interior

Entrance and Hall (1881)

The entrance from St Paul's Square has double half-glazed panelled doors, sidelights, and overlights, all with stained-glass margins and leaded lights, providing access to a small lobby.

From the east side of the lobby, panelled double doors provide access to a waiting room, now subdivided, with low-level wall panelling under the bay window and a substantial marble fireplace.

From the south side of the lobby, a round arch provides access to a large hall aligned east-west. The hall has a hammerbeam roof on stone corbels, wall panelling to dado height, ornate coloured floor tiles by Craven Dunnill and Godwin, and decorative cast-iron and marble-topped radiator guards. An imperial or double staircase was added to the east side of the hall in 1910 when an office extension and council chamber were added to the east.

From the west side of the north wall, six-panel doors provide access to offices in the street-front range. The coloured floor tiles continue west into the stair hall, which has a stair with cast-iron balusters and a moulded handrail rising to the ground floor and second floor of the street-front range. The second floor has a corridor on the south side running east-west, with partitions featuring glazed borrowed lights to the rooms on the north side.

The former judge's accommodation on the third floor is accessed by an enclosed stair in the northwest corner. It has three principal rooms, each with a plain fireplace and stone hearth surround, and four-panelled doors throughout.

From the first floor, a corridor runs south along the west side of the building to the Muniments Room, built in 1899 and extended with an ornate cast-iron spiral staircase to the second floor in 1929.

Courtrooms and Associated Spaces (1878)

From the centre of the hall, a corridor runs south through the 1878 building. Off this corridor are three half-glazed doors to the courts on the east and west sides, and half-glazed double doors to the offices to the south in the riverfront range.

East Court

The east court has a hammerbeam roof on stone corbels and wall panelling to dado height. The upper gallery at the north end has curved benches in three sections and a half-glazed door to a rear stair. The lower gallery has long curved benches. The courtroom retains original court furniture for the dock, prosecution, defence, clerk, magistrates, witness, and probation sections. The upper and lower galleries are separated by cast-iron radiator floor panels. The lower gallery is separated from the courtroom by wrought-iron railings and a moulded handrail.

The south wall has three full-height arches behind the magistrates' desk, flanked by panelled wooden doors to the retiring rooms at the rear. The inner (west) wall has a first-floor wooden balcony on corbels with two shouldered arches and wrought-iron railings separating an upper and a lower level, a stained-glass window on the north wall, and a door on the south wall to the second-floor landing of the 1878 stair.

West Court

The west court is a near mirror image of the east court, except the gallery benches are straight rather than curved, and the jury retired downstairs to a rest room on the ground floor rather than on the same level.

The retiring rooms to the rear and offices in the riverfront range retain original four-panelled doors and fireplaces throughout, with plain wooden mantels and marble fire and hearth surrounds. The higher-status rooms retain six-panel doors and more decorative fireplaces.

To the rear of the west court, an ornate wrought-iron gate and stair provide access to a central corridor under the courts, off which half-glazed office doors and cell gates survive.

On the first floor, an open-well three-quarter-turn stair to the rear of the west court provides access to the second floor of the riverfront range. The stair has cast-iron balustrades and moulded wooden handrails and is lit by a large stained-glass window on the west wall. On the north side of the stair landing, two panelled doors provide access to the courtroom balconies. On the south side, a panelled door provides access to the library, and double doors provide access to a magistrates' court.

Library

The library has an exposed king-post truss, two original chandeliers with replacement light fittings, and integrated bookshelves with cages on the west wall either side of a wooden fireplace with a marble fire and hearth surround.

Magistrates' Court

The magistrates' court has two exposed queen-post trusses, a wrought-iron chandelier, and fireplaces on the east and west walls, each with a wooden mantel and panelled overmantel and marble fire and hearth surround. A decorative cast-iron and marble-topped radiator guard sits under the window. A retiring room off the north side retains a plain wooden fireplace with a marble surround.

Extensions (1905 and 1926)

The 1905 extension to the east has a three-quarter-turn stair on its west side, and the 1926 extension has a half-turn stair in its northeast corner. Both replicate the cast-iron balustrade and moulded wooden handrail of the 1878 stair. The riverfront room of the 1905 extension retains a fireplace with a classical wooden mantel and overmantel and a glazed red tile surround.

Eastern Extension Offices and Council Chamber (1910)

The 1910 extension to the east of the 1881 building has offices in its front range overlooking St Paul's Square, accessed from an oak stair at the east end and a partitioned corridor running east-west.

From the east side of the 1881 hall, a corridor leads east to a polygonal former council chamber, now a court, partially remodelled in 1938. The interior retains a coffered ceiling, stepped cornice with a continuous band of fasces (the ancient symbol of magistrates), and wall panelling to clerestory height with brass window-opening furniture.

The seating is arranged in a U-plan facing the magistrates' desk at the north end, with curved sections of leather-upholstered folding seats and desks (probably 1938). The north wall has a pair of double panelled doors, a sunburst clock in a panelled arch over the magistrates' desk, and a balustraded public gallery above. The gallery has been screened off but retains the cornice and wall panelling of the chamber below. Protective screens have been introduced on the east and southeast side of the former council chamber, and some original furniture has been removed or replaced in those sections.