The first venue for the
quarter sessions in Spalding was the old town hall in the triangular open space in Hall Place, which was commissioned by John Hobson, and dated back to about 1620. However, in the 1830s, the justices complained that the town hall was too small for them and it was agreed to commission a new sessions house. The site they selected in the Sheep Market was adjacent to a new prison which had been erected in 1825 to replace an earlier House of Correction in Broad Street which had dated from 1619. The new sessions house was designed by
Charles Kirk from
Sleaford, built in
ashlar stone at a cost of £6,000 and was officially opened on 30 June 1843. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto the Sheep Market. The central section of three bays featured an arched doorway flanked by two bi-partite
mullioned and
transomed windows, all with
traceried panels above; on the first floor there was a large tri-partite mullioned and transomed window flanked by two bi-partite mullioned and transomed windows. The bays were separated by
buttresses surmounted by statues of lions and, at roof level, there was a
crenelated parapet which was decorated by a panel bearing the
Royal coat of arms. The end bays, which were projected forward, took the form of three-stage towers with doorways in the first stage,
oriel windows in the second stage and pairs of narrow windows in the third stage; the towers were also surmounted by crenelated parapets. Internally, the principal rooms were the courtroom as well as a series of prison cells on the ground floor. The building was purchased in 2024 by Chinese American entrepreneur Erika Yao. The original courtroom retains many of its original Victorian features, while the former magistrate's room has been transformed into a stately home-style gallery space. The second courtroom now operates as a modern, tropical-themed bar. The former clerk's office has been redesigned as a chinoiserie-style library, housing historic artefacts from China and Japan. Additionally, the building's two turret file storage rooms have been renovated into bridal dressing suites: "The Camellia" and "The Evermore". The building is licensed for outdoor and indoor weddings and civil partnership ceremonies. ==See also==