Listed Building record MDO19119 - Shire Hall, High West Street, Dorchester

The former Crown Court built by Thomas Hardwick, dated 1797 on a rainwater head. Now a museum, the interior retains the court-room virtually as it was when the Tolpuddle Martyrs were tried here in 1834. This was a famous case of injustice, when a group of labourers who had attempted to set up a friendly society and affiliate it with the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union were sentenced to transportation. The building features a wooden dock, bench, jury and witness boxes, and public galleries contermporary with the trial.

(SY 69109073) Shire Hall (NAT). (1)

Shire Hall, a two-storeyed building by Thomas Hardwick in 1797, has a dignified classical facade of Portland ashlar and brick, divided into seven bays; the theee central bays on the ground floor contain three-round headed doorways. The hall comprises the Council Chamber originally the Nisi Privs Court, and the Crown Court, now owned by the Trades Union Congress and preserved as a memorial to the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were tried here in 1834. There are later additions to the north. Grade 1. (2-4)

No change; name confirmed by Local Authority.

See ground photograph. (5)

The 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' were a group of 6 agricultural labourers who attempted to form a friendly society- in effect a trade union and who were prosecuted in 1834 by the authorities under the pretext of "swearing illegal oaths". With the jury heavily weighted against them, they were sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia, but such was the public outrage that they were released with pardons after three years. Please refer to the Tolpuddle Martyrs website for details of opening times and visits.(6)

National Record of the Historic Environment, 453525 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

National Monuments Record, NMR Monument Record, SY 69 SE 135 (Index). SDO9937.

Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1971 (Map). SWX1540.

Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 113, no.9 (Monograph). SDO148.

Tabor, R, 2012, Rooms below the Nisi Prius Court, Shire Hall, Dorchester, Dorset. An Archaeological Field Evaluation. (Unpublished document). SDO14471.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, 2014, The Shire Hall, Dorchester. Conservation Management Plan for West Dorset District Council (Unpublished document). SDO14411.

Randall, C, 2017, Old Shire Hall, High West Street, Dorchester, Dorset. Archaeological Monitoring and Recording. (Unpublished document). SDO15408.

Record last edited

Aug 22 2024 7:36PM