The History
Sheffield Crown Court stands in centre of Sheffield, The building was commissioned to replace Sheffield’s first town hall, which had opened in 1700 to a design by William Renny. This first structure stood by the parish church, on a site with little prospect for extension. The Old Town Hall was built in 1807–8 by Charles Watson, and was designed to house not only the Town Trustees but also the Petty and Quarter Sessions. The initial building was a five-bay structure fronting Castle Street, but it was extended in 1833 and again in 1866 by William Flockton (1804-1864) of Sheffield and his partner for the project, Abbott; the most prominent feature was the new central clock tower over a new main entrance that reoriented the building to Waingate. At the same time, the building’s courtrooms were linked by underground passages to the neighbouring Sheffield Police Offices.
It played host to a number of notable cases - including the murder trial of Ian Wood, who shot dead his pregnant mistress in 1986 before fleeing to France and trying to throw himself off a cathedral.
However, in 1997 the city opened a new court building, and the hall was sold off and left to crumble.
Local campaigners have long called for thehall to be filled once again so that Sheffield can make the best use of its historic heritage.
In 2007, the Victorian Society named it one of the most endangered 19th-century buildings in the UK.
The Explore
Visited here late evening, access took a while due to waiting for revellers of the pubs surrounding to finish their cigs and go back inside! Thankfully they were all too drunk for us to arrouse any suspicion and we stayed inside most of the night without any interruptions!
If anyone visits in future, BE CAREFUL. The place is falling apart. I know most places are and it goes without saying really, but one of the three of us attending fell through the floor, luckily he managed to catch himself at waist depth and pull himself back up! Serves him right for not looking where he's walking! If there's a toilet floating above you then its probably not too solid haha!
Disappointingly I gave up on trying to get any decent photos of the courtroom on this visit as the reflections off of all the wood were driving my crazy. My mate got one though so I've attached that on the end with one of his from inside the clocktower as my wide angle couldn't fit it all in without me setting the tripod up on a couple of sleeping pigeons!
So far this is my favourite explore that I've done, absolutely love the place. Strange seeing that the electrics are still on in some places!
Here's the important bit:
My friend fell through 2 floors below this. Should've known really!
Ignore my name, I didn't realise it was there...
And then the couple from my mate (nicked from his Instagram as he can't be bothered to send me the proper photos).
Sheffield Crown Court stands in centre of Sheffield, The building was commissioned to replace Sheffield’s first town hall, which had opened in 1700 to a design by William Renny. This first structure stood by the parish church, on a site with little prospect for extension. The Old Town Hall was built in 1807–8 by Charles Watson, and was designed to house not only the Town Trustees but also the Petty and Quarter Sessions. The initial building was a five-bay structure fronting Castle Street, but it was extended in 1833 and again in 1866 by William Flockton (1804-1864) of Sheffield and his partner for the project, Abbott; the most prominent feature was the new central clock tower over a new main entrance that reoriented the building to Waingate. At the same time, the building’s courtrooms were linked by underground passages to the neighbouring Sheffield Police Offices.
It played host to a number of notable cases - including the murder trial of Ian Wood, who shot dead his pregnant mistress in 1986 before fleeing to France and trying to throw himself off a cathedral.
However, in 1997 the city opened a new court building, and the hall was sold off and left to crumble.
Local campaigners have long called for thehall to be filled once again so that Sheffield can make the best use of its historic heritage.
In 2007, the Victorian Society named it one of the most endangered 19th-century buildings in the UK.
The Explore
Visited here late evening, access took a while due to waiting for revellers of the pubs surrounding to finish their cigs and go back inside! Thankfully they were all too drunk for us to arrouse any suspicion and we stayed inside most of the night without any interruptions!
If anyone visits in future, BE CAREFUL. The place is falling apart. I know most places are and it goes without saying really, but one of the three of us attending fell through the floor, luckily he managed to catch himself at waist depth and pull himself back up! Serves him right for not looking where he's walking! If there's a toilet floating above you then its probably not too solid haha!
Disappointingly I gave up on trying to get any decent photos of the courtroom on this visit as the reflections off of all the wood were driving my crazy. My mate got one though so I've attached that on the end with one of his from inside the clocktower as my wide angle couldn't fit it all in without me setting the tripod up on a couple of sleeping pigeons!
So far this is my favourite explore that I've done, absolutely love the place. Strange seeing that the electrics are still on in some places!
Here's the important bit:
My friend fell through 2 floors below this. Should've known really!
Ignore my name, I didn't realise it was there...
And then the couple from my mate (nicked from his Instagram as he can't be bothered to send me the proper photos).
