Sessions House is a Grade I listed building in the West Northamptonshire local planning authority area, England. First listed on 19 January 1952. A C17 Sessions house.
Sessions House
- WRENN ID
- upper-rafter-saffron
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- West Northamptonshire
- Constituency
- Northampton North MP: Lucy Rigby (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 19 January 1952
- Type
- Sessions house
- Address
- Sessions House, George Row, Northampton
- OS grid reference
- SP 755 604
- Coordinates
- 52.23687, -0.89566
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Sessions House, located on George Row, was built between 1676 and 1678 and is one of the first structures erected after the town fire of 1675. It is attributed to Henry Bell of Kings Lynn and Sir Roger Norwich, who was responsible for the design. The building features a symmetrical front with a Corinthian order, showcasing three central windows positioned between pilasters beneath a balustrade adorned with swags that enclose a central shield. There are semi-circular headed doorways at either end, flanked by coupled half columns under segmental pediments. The hipped roof, originally covered with Welsh slate, once included a cupola and oval dormers beneath pediments. The west side elevation displays a round-headed doorway flanked by coupled pilasters under a pediment, which is also decorated with swags and a cartouche in the tympanum. The building has a tall plinth and is a single storey. Inside, there are very fine plaster ceilings created between 1684 and 1688 by Edward Goudge. The Sessions House, along with the Judge's Lodgings, County Hall, County Council Offices, and Nos 8, 8A, 9, and 9A, form a group of significant buildings.
Local climate
Sessions House sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 83% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 82% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 37 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 67% of listed buildings. Of these, 17 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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