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 DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HUNDRED OF SALFORD 
 
 illustrated. 
 

 
Hundred of Salford Assize Courts, Manchester. 
 
A 
 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HUNDRED OF SALFORD 
 
 ASSIZE COURTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COUNTY OF LANCASTER: 
 
 TO WHICH ARE APPENDED 
 
 SOME PARTICULARS OF THE NEW GAOL OF THE SALFORD HUNDRED; 
 ALSO, A BRIEF OUTLINE OF ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LIVERPOOL; 
 
 AND THE LEEDS TOWN HALL. 
 
 MANCHESTER : 
 
 Printed and Published by Beresfobd and Havill, 36, Corporation Street. 
 E. Chadwick, Librarian, Assize Courts. 
 
 ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL. 
 
TO THE MAGISTRATES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 SALFORD HUNDRED, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANTS 
 
 THE PUBLISHER 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 T HE magnificent pile of buildings known as the Assize 
 Courts of the Salford Hundred of the County of Lan¬ 
 caster, was commenced in July of the year 1859. 
 It occupied five years from the laying of the foundation 
 stone to its completion. Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn 
 and Baron Pigott were the first Judges to administer 
 justice in the city of Manchester: on which occasion 
 the learned Judge (Baron Pigott), while congratulating 
 the citizens of Manchester and the southern division ot 
 the County of Lancashire, that it would no longer be necessary 
 for them to go to Liverpool for transaction of the business of 
 assize, paid a very handsome and most just tribute to all con¬ 
 cerned in the erection of the Assize Courts. “ With respect to 
 those to whom the duty had been confided of erecting Halls of 
 Justice, he thought that there was not in the United Kingdom 
 any place more worthy of its administration than that in 
 which they were now for the first time assembled; and in 
 regard to the comfort of the Judges and the convenience of 
 the Bar, nothing seemed to be wanting.” It is the object 
 of this work to place before the readers such details, both 
 architectural and general, as may prove interesting, not only 
 to the resident population of the Salford Hundred, but to the 
 thousands of visitors who from time to time, on purposes of 
 business or of pleasure, may be brought to Manchester. 
 
 In reviewing some of the master-pieces, whether of 
 ecclesiastical or domestic architecture, and more especially 
 
6 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 while admiring the exquisite details of certain portions, a feeling 
 of disappointment, well-nigh akin to irritation, frequently arises 
 from the impossibility of now supplying an irretrievable loss, 
 and associating the names of those whose genius designed, 
 and whose skill carried out the fabrics, from the mere 
 contemplation of which the mind derives such keen pleasure. 
 
 It is not our intention that any omission of this kind shall be 
 chargeable against this description. We therefore give the 
 names of all those to whose skill it is that Manchester has it 
 in its power to boast of Halls of Justice, than which on 
 competent judgment it is safe to pronounce, there are none j 
 finer in the kingdom. 
 
 The Architect is Mr. Alfred Waterhouse. 
 
 Clerk of the Works, Mr. Henry Littler.* 
 
 General Contractor : Samuel Bramall. 
 
 The Stained-glass Windows: Edmundson & Son, Lavers 
 and Barraud, Heaton, Butler & Bayne, and Shaw. 
 
 Sculpture generally : Woolner. 
 
 The Painted Decorations : Crace. 
 
 Sub-Contractors : Harrison & Son, Plumbing; Hood, 
 Plastering and Painting. 
 
 Warming Apparatus : Haden & Son. 
 
 The Gas Fittings and Iron Gates : Skidmore. 
 
 The Cabinet Work: Lamb, and Bird & Hull. 
 
 * It is to this gentleman that the publishers nnd compiler are chiefly indebted 
 for the architectural details and particulars of this work. 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 7 
 
 Mantel-pieces, Grates, Marbles, and Kitchen Utensils: 
 Mr. William Wilson, King-street. 
 
 French Polishing : Mr. John Coxon, Mulberry-street. 
 
 The Carving was confided to O’Shea, with the exception 
 of the statues, which were sculptured by Imhoff, a Pole by 
 birth, from Mr. Woolner’s Models. 
 
 The Steward is Mr. Guttridge. 
 
 Librarian, Mr. Chadwick. 
 
 The total cost of the building was £130,000, and if we add 
 to this the additional cost of £170,000 for erecting the Prison 
 which is contiguous, and may also be said to form a portion 
 of the building, we shall have a total of considerably upwards 
 of a quarter of a million sterling, and however large this sum 
 may appear, it may certainly be said that, whether we consider 
 the results achieved, either from a moral, social, or even a 
 national point of view, it would be absolutely impossible that 
 a more judicious outlay could have been made. 
 
 A description of a structure such as that under consideration, 
 must necessarily be chiefly architectural, and, for a newly 
 erected fabric possibly rather dry. Necessarily; because it 
 must be borne in mind that while a building is in its infancy, 
 we can but write a description of it. It is in its old age, 
 possibly in its decadence, when generations of men and centuries 
 of years have crowned it with legend, many of them perhaps 
 dark and' bloody, and clothed its grey hoary walls with moss 
 and lichen, that we come to write its history. Who may say, 
 in the unfolded future of England’s fortunes—which no human 
 
8 ASSIZE COUETS. 
 
 skill can lay bare—what tragic tales of crimes, of virtues, of 
 heroism, may cling around these walls now fresh from the 
 hands of architect and builder. It will be for them , the 
 historians, the students of far distant times, to add to the 
 intrinsic merits, the stately beauties of this magnificent Pile, 
 the yet added and mysterious beauties of Association. 
 
 For the greater convenience of the visitor and the reader, 
 we propose dividing the description into two portions. 
 
 First, treating generally of its external features. 
 
 . Second, giving in detail its interior compartments and 
 divisions. 
 
 A ground plan is affixed. 
 
 The following Justices were appointed by the Court of 
 Quarter Sessions and Committee, to superintend the erection 
 of the Courts:— 
 
 Edmund Ashwokth, Esq., Chairman. 
 
 The Rev. J. Siiepheed Bieley. 
 
 John Geundy, Esq. 
 
 Nathan Woethington, Esq. 
 
 Abel Buckley, Esq. 
 
 John Kay, Esq. 
 
 Thos. Bazley, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Edwd. Ovens, Esq. 
 
 J. T. Hibbeet, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Alfeed Milne, Esq. 
 
 Me. F. C. Hulton was appointed the Law Clerk to the 
 Committee. 
 
Hundred of Salford Assize Courts, Manchester. 
 
 REFERENCES TO STAIRCASES- 
 
 A Leading to 1st Class Refreshment Room. 
 B Grand Jury’s Room and Chancery Court, 
 c Grand Jury Room and Barristers’ Room. 
 d 2nd Class Refreshment Room. 
 e Basement. 
 
 f Board Room. 
 
 g Gallery in Crown Court, and Barristers’ Refreshment 
 Room. 
 
 h Gallery in Civil Court and Chancery Court. 
 

 
 
THE ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 OMaior of fbc 
 
 T HE rooms in the basement, which is at the street 
 level, front Strangeways, and are used as dining and 
 refreshment rooms. There is also a large kitchen 
 with excellent apparatus for cooking—larders, bakehouse, 
 and cellars. 
 
 On the same floor, and to the rear of the courts, a number 
 of cells are provided for the detention of prisoners awaiting 
 trial—or such as have been sentenced. Morning and night 
 the prisoners are removed through a covered way to and 
 from the gaol. 
 
 On the basement floor are also the spacious boilers for 
 warming the building ; the steam engine for propelling the 
 fans used in ventilating the courts; and the apparatus for 
 cooling and purifying the air. 
 
 The chief floor of the Assize Courts is about fifteen feet 
 above the street level, both to the Judges’ residence and to 
 the main building ; for the Judges’ residence forms a 
 
10 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 semi-detaclied block to the north of the main building, 
 with which it is connected by a handsome corridor giving 
 access to the courts, so that the Judges, on coming to 
 or leaving business, have but some 200 feet to walk from the 
 courts to their drawing-room. 
 
 The main building has a frontage towards Strangeways of 
 250 feet, the Strangeways frontage including the Judges’ resi¬ 
 dence and court-yard is 835 feet. The frontage of the main 
 building towards Southall-street is 165 feet in extent, and as 
 the building approximates closely to a parallelogram in form, 
 the other, and less important frontage will be of somewhat 
 similar extent. The composition of the Strangeways front¬ 
 age comprises, in the main building, a centre block standing 
 prominently forward, with wings on either side, which are 
 terminated by pavilions. 
 
 The centre projection is composed of a bold flight of steps, 
 commencing at the street line, flanked by wing-walls and 
 buttresses. The steps are continued within this part of the 
 building, beneath a massive portico, in three bays to the front, 
 and two bays in depth within the building, richly groined in 
 parti-coloured vaulting surfaces. The ribs are very boldly 
 moulded, and the mouldings intersect in the most intricate 
 manner at their springings from the capitals of the vaulting 
 shafts. 
 
 The detached shafts which support the superstructure 
 to this portico are solid blocks of grey granite, two feet in 
 diameter, and the capitals are carved in foliage, interspered 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 11 
 
 with representations of various modes of punishment in vogue 
 in times bygone: such as the “pillory,” the “mask, or 
 bridle for scolds,” “torture by water,” the “wheel,” &c., 
 &c. These veritable “sermons in stones” are exceedingly 
 interesting. To the thoughtful mind their silent preaching is 
 fraught with much that is instructive, much that is suggestive. 
 The beholder, as he stands gazing at these mementoes of days 
 and customs gone by, may reflect, and not without satisfac¬ 
 tion, on the advance which civilization has made since these 
 varied horrors were considered to be necessary, and not found 
 to be out of harmony with that spirit of mercy which should 
 ever temper justice, that manly clemency which prohibits us 
 from inflicting cruelty as well as punishment even on the 
 greatest criminals. 
 
 To the right and to the left on entering, are lavatories, 
 and other conveniences for the use of the public, all airy and 
 well lighted so that they may be under most complete super¬ 
 vision. 
 
 The upper part of the central projection contains a noble 
 room for the grand jury, the external arrangement being that 
 of three tw r o-light windows, with granite coupled mullion shafts 
 and traceried heads, and two similar windows in the return, space 
 for which is given by the prominence of this part of the building. 
 
 At the level of these windows, the angle buttresses assume 
 an octagonal form, each of the three faces of the octagon which 
 are exposed to view having a canopied niche containing admi¬ 
 rably sculptured figures of Judges of eminence. Two similar 
 
12 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 niches are formed in the wall pillars which intervene between 
 the three front windows. These are surmounted by the main 
 cornice and parapet, the buttresses terminating in octagonal 
 turrets, the stone canopies of which are supported by granite 
 shafts having carved capitals. The turrets stand at the foot 
 of a fine gable which surmounts the grand jury room and portico. 
 The apex of this gable serves as a pedestal for a colossal statue 
 of Moses holding the Book of the Law. In the gable, which is 
 crocheted in the French manner, is a handsome wheel window. 
 
 The wings to the right and to the left of the centre, have a 
 bold basement of square-headed windows, deeply recessed, and 
 with granite mullion shafts—at the base of the principal floor 
 the basement storey is separated from the principal storey by a 
 moulded string-course above which the windows of that storey 
 come, these are for the most part of three lights with traceried 
 heads, of geometric design: the spandril spaces between the 
 windows have shields with the coats of arms of the Townships 
 comprised in the Hundred of Salford. The heads of the 
 windows of this storey have moulded labels, the bosses to which 
 are in sculpture representations of the heads of the English j 
 monarchs and rulers from Alfred to Victoria. The same 
 character of window and detail is continued on the Southall- 
 street front, and also the front towards the Judges’ Court-yard. 
 
 Between the principal floor and the upper storey a 
 deep string-course filled in w r ith a chequer-work of polished 
 granite is placed; and above this, and at the same level as 
 the grand jury room windows, are placed windows of a similar 
 character to those of the grand jury room, with the exception 
 
ASSIZE COURTS, 
 
 13 
 
 that the coupled granite shafts in the last-named windows are 
 placed one behind the other, in the thickness of the wall, 
 whilst to those in the rest of this storey of the fagade the shafts 
 are placed on the same line, to the fronts of the building. 
 
 The pavilions which project at each angle of the building 
 from 8 to 4 feet, have precisely the same general arrangement 
 for marking out the storeys as those just described; the 
 various storeys, &c., being continued around them, and having 
 windows of the same character ; the basement of the pavilions 
 being boldly buttressed, the windows of that floor are there¬ 
 fore proportionately more deeply recessed. 
 
 On the chief floor, on each face of the pavilion, the 
 3-light central decorated window is flanked by a single light 
 of similar character, giving slight emphasis to the fenestration 
 of these blocks—and the windows of the upper floor are 
 grouped more closely. The fagades terminate with an open¬ 
 work stone parapet of quatre-feuilles—the parapet being 
 divided into bays, corresponding with the fenestration of 
 the storey below, by means of pedestals over the wall-piers 
 —to each pedestal is attached a water-shoot projecting from the 
 cornice, to come into use only in case the gutter 
 becomes choked, and on each pier is placed a nondescript 
 animal supporting a shield and spear. The gargoyles or 
 water-shoots at the angles of the pavilion, are supported by life- 
 size crouching figures typical of the Drunkard, the Gambler, &c. 
 
 On each face of the pavilion is a dormer window—past 
 which the parapet is carried—the dormers are terminated by 
 
14 
 
 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 gables, and they serve to light the roof and the gangway 
 therein. 
 
 The building is roofed by a high pitched slated roof, orna¬ 
 mented with a wrought-iron cresting, the ridge line is broken 
 by stacks of chimneys ; the ridge line from the centre gable 
 having across it a stack of chimneys of greater pretension and 
 height than the others. The angle pavilions have truncated 
 high pitched roofs, surmounted by cresting of greater height 
 than that to the ordinary roof. 
 
ASSIZE COURTS, 
 
 15 
 
 CIjc Judges’ itesxbcnrc 
 
 is of a somewhat simpler character in architecture than 
 the main building, though in perfect harmony with it. The 
 | aim of the architect being to give it a touch of the domestic, j 
 ; The entrance to the court-yard, which comes between the I 
 i house and main building, is under a gothic archway, having 
 : very rich iron gates, and the tympanum of the gable over 
 j the archway is filled in with a sculptured panel in mezzo-relievo, 
 
 I the subject being the “Judgment of Solomon.” 
 
 On the knee^tones at the springing of the gable, are j 
 f subjects, nearly life-size, illustrative of the good and of the bad 
 woman—the former is represented as carefully nursing her j 
 child, the latter as dashing its brains out with the wine-pot. j 
 The gateway is flanked by a screen wall or arcade, filled in j 
 with iron-work within the arches. The general external arrange¬ 
 ment of the judges’ residence is that of a frontage towards j 
 Strangeways, three storeys high, comprising two main gables— 
 each with a three-light tracery window in it to light the bed- \ 
 rooms. Beneath these, in one case is a four-light window, J 
 with square head, having tracery in the upper part; in the ; 
 other an oriel window supported by a buttress from the ground. I 
 
 The lower floor is of a character to correspond, being less | 
 ornate. At the angle of the building, supported on a buttress, j 
 is placed within a niche, a rather more than life-size figure of | 
 “ Mercy.” 
 
16 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 Along Cotham-street, to the north, the residence extends, 
 and is precisely of the same architectural character as the 
 Strange ways front. Beyond it is the entrance to the back 
 court, serving to give light and air to the servants’ apartments, 
 and also to give access to the cells for prisoners. This massive 
 gateway is known as the “Prisoners’ Entrance.” 
 
 To this court-yard the servants’ apartments have their look¬ 
 out, and this part of the building is not without somewhat of the 
 picturesque in its character and composition. The various 
 steep-pitched roofs, the lofty tower, and the octagonal staircase 
 turret in the angle, formed by the junction of the residence 
 with the courts proper, combined with the somewhat monasterial 
 character of the architecture of the back of the house, form 
 a pleasing composition. 
 
 The description of the exterior of the building may be 
 said to be completed by reverting to Southall-street front 
 of the main building. This front is diversified by having 
 near the centre of its length a porch and flight of steps with 
 accessories—the entrance being chiefly for barristers. The 
 porch has an open iron gate within a richly moulded archway, 
 and within, it is groined in stone. The roof of the porch is 
 steep in pitch, and has over the doorway a pediment and niche, 
 filled with a sitting figure of Justice, the finial to the pediment 
 being an owl. Attached to this porch is a projecting octa¬ 
 gonal staircase with long lancet-formed but traceried 
 windows and buttresses on the angles. At the level of the 
 main cornice this becomes an open lantern of octagonal form. 
 The openings having granite columns and cusped arches, the 
 whole being terminated by a high pitched roof. The grouping 
 
ASSIZE COUETS. 17 
 
 of the porch and staircase projection is picturesque and 
 effective. The remainder of this front is identical in 
 character with that towards Strange ways. 
 
 The rear of the building is not exposed to public view, it 
 is hidden by the gaol wall and surrounding buildings ; the 
 architect has therefore attempted no ornamentation there. In 
 describing the internal arrangement of the building, the 
 position of the tower and its uses will be mentioned. Externally 
 the tower is rather to the back of the building: from most 
 situations the observer sees but about one-third of its height. 
 
 The tower is about twenty feet square, and is carried up as 
 a plain paneled shaft till after it makes its appearance above the 
 roofs of the building, as when seen from the adjacent 
 thoroughfare, when the paneling is terminated by corbeling, 
 and the tower assumes the form of a balcony having octagonal 
 turrets at the angles terminating in canopied spire-tops. On 
 each of the four faces of the tower the balcony has a very bold 
 two-light window, with geometric tracery in the equilateral 
 arched head, and each window is surrounded by an enriched 
 gablet, running up into the slated pointed roof of the tower 
 which, at the height of 210 feet from the street, terminates in 
 a ball final about 15 feet high. 
 
 The ornamental clocks and chimney ornaments in the 
 rooms of the judges’ residence were supplied by Messrs. John 
 Hall & Co., of this city, as well as the silver plate for the 
 table. 
 
 E 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 ! 18 
 
 iplan, or Arrangement of flje Interior of tbe 
 §ui tiring. 
 
 As before stated, the basement of the building is chiefly 
 appropriated to the uses of refreshment departments, and for 
 warming and ventilating, but in it are also placed cells for 
 prisoners. Entering the building from Strangeways by the 
 flight of steps and beneath the large portico, three pairs of 
 folding doors give access to the hall (salle des ]jas perdus) a 
 noble apartment, 100 feet long, nearly 50 feet wide and about 
 75 feet high to the ajjex of the roof. The hall is roofed with 
 an open timber roof of eight bays, the principals having 
 massive moulded brackets and ribs assuming the form of 
 pointed arches, and the spandrils filled in with tracery. On 
 the ends of the hammer beams are seated figures, grotesques, in 
 the attitude of holding the chandeliers by which the hall is 
 lighted with gas. An extract from the Great Charter runs 
 round the hall, it is as follows: —“Nullus liber homo 
 
 CAPIATUR VEL IMPRISONETUR AUT DISSEISIATUR DE ALIQUO 
 LIBERO TENEMENTO SUO VEL LIBERTATIBUS VEL LIBERIS CON- 
 SUETUDINIBUS SUIS AUT UTLAGETUR AUT EXULET AUT ALIQUO 
 MODO DESTRUATUR NEC SUPER EUM 1BIMIUS NEC SUPER EUM 
 MITTEMUS NISI PER LEGALE JUDICIUM PARIUM SUORUM VEL PER 
 LEGEM TERRAS. NuLLI VENDEMUS NULLI NEGABIMUS AUT 
 DIFFEREMUS RECTUM VEL JUSTICIAM.” 
 
GRAND ENTRANCE HALL. 
 
 Page 18 . 
 
 

 
 t 
 
 *$ 
 
 
 
 -• ;: 
 
 > 
 
 
 
ASSIZE COURTS, 
 
 19 
 
 At either end of the hall is a richly traceried window 
 filled in with stained glass, the subject in the one to the 
 north being illustrative of the Great Charter, King John 
 having place in the centre compartment, flanked on either 
 side by Archbishop Langton and Robert Fitzwalter (Chief 
 Baron), two of the principal characters who took part 
 in obtaining the Charter : besides, there are shields of arms of 
 some of the other barons who were instrumental in obtaining 
 the Charter. At the base of the window is the following 
 extract from the Charter :— 
 
 “®o none totll toe sell, 
 
 ©o none totll toe henn, 
 
 3To none totll toe irelap, 
 
 Rlgljt or justice.” 
 
 The window to the south is somewhat plainer in character, 
 the glass representing the arms of townships in the Hundred 
 of Salford. On the east side of the hall, opposite the main 
 entrance, are three three-light traceried windows, also filled with j 
 stained glass, in which are represented the arms of the 
 monarchs and judges whose statues appear in the niches in 
 the fagade of the building. 
 
 At the north end of the hall, beneath an archway, is an 
 inquiry office, with telegraphic communication w T ith the town ; 
 and here also, when the building is open for business, 
 newspapers and periodicals are sold, and parcels may be 
 deposited. A post-office is likewise at such times open here. 
 
 From the hall are steps to the refreshment rooms below, 
 and stairs to the grand jury room above. 
 
20 ASSIZE COUBTS. 
 
 The civil court and the criminal court are respectively to the 
 N.E. and to the S.E., of the hall, being separated from 
 each other by the tower, and by retiring rooms for the judges 
 and juries for each court. 
 
 The groined space beneath the tower serves as a vestibule to 
 the retiring rooms for the judges, and from the retiring rooms 
 the judges walk directly on to the judicial benches in the 
 courts. This arrangement gives great facility for communica¬ 
 tion between the judges. 
 
 The two chief courts are, each, capable of holding about 800 
 people. They are of the same size and general arrangement. 
 The seats and tables being of polished oak, and the walls 
 lined with the same material for about ten feet in height. Above 
 this the walls are of polished stone. On one side and one end of 
 each court are arcades of columns and arches; those in the nisi 
 prius court being of three lights, with tracery for the windows; 
 i those in the criminal court being of one division each, of a 
 cusped form of broad lancet-shaped arch. On the opposite 
 side of each court is a corresponding arcade filled in with 
 wall surfaces covered by stencilled work in colours. 
 
 In each court, at the end opposite the judge’s seat, 
 is a gallery for ladies, beneath arcades supported by polished 
 granite shafts, corresponding in character with the window 
 openings. These galleries are approached from the upper 
 floor of the building, for which purpose staircases from the 
 floor below are conveniently placed. 
 
✓ 
 

 
 / 
 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 21 
 
 The judge’s bench in each court is raised about four feet 
 above the general floor level, and the seat is covered by a 
 pediment canopy of considerable height. On either side of the 
 judges’ seats are four stalls, under canopies, for magistrates. 
 At each end of the bench is a screen, glazed, in which is a door 
 giving access to the lobby, to the grand jury and jury boxes, 
 and to short side galleries for jurors and others in waiting, behind 
 the jury boxes. At the usual floor level, beneath the judge, is 
 the seat for the clerk of the crown, and by the side of it is 
 a way down to the rooms for witnesses in waiting, who are 
 placed beneath the judges’ retiring room. These rooms also 
 have entrances from the hall. The witness-box is placed to 
 the right hand, near to the steps just named, and about half¬ 
 way distant from the judge and the dock. 
 
 In the area, immediately in front of the clerk of the 
 crown, and surrounding a large table are seats for counsel, for 
 reporters, and those directly engaged in a cause. Another 
 row of seats behind these, and in front of the dock, is for 
 counsel, and to the right and to the left of the dock are simi¬ 
 lar seats for counsel and others not engaged in the cause. The 
 dock is capable of holding about a dozen prisoners, having 
 attached to it a space for the governor of the gaol, and 
 another for the warder, and at the back of the dock are steps 
 leading to the cells in the basement. 
 
 Behind the dock are other seats for the public, or for such 
 as are attending the court, but not immediately engaged. 
 These seats are then separated from a stone stepped platform 
 at the end of the court opposite to the judge, for the general 
 
22 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 public. These platforms have entrances from the corridor to the 
 north and to the south of the building. Other entrances for 
 the public to the centre of the court are provided in corridors 
 communicating with the north end and the south end of the 
 hall. 
 
 CIjc barristers’ Corritwr. 
 
 From this corridor are entered rooms for the clerk of the 
 crown, clerks, the barristers’ robing room and library, and 
 accessories. The public is shut out by folding glazed doors 
 at each end. It is roofed by Gothic moulded timber ribs, in 
 bays supported on corbels, and the part near the ridge is filled 
 in with coloured glass, in designs. The timber work is 
 neatly decorated in colours. 
 
 An entrance for barristers and attorneys is provided in the 
 east side of each court. A corridor, 180 feet long by 10 feet 
 wide—the barristers’ corridor—runs the whole length on that 
 side of both courts, and of the judges’ retiring rooms and 
 judges’ vestibule, and connects the corridors to the north and 
 south of the building. 
 
 p §5 misters’ Wxhrnxn 
 
 is a handsome room, about 70 feet long by 25 feet 
 wide, divided into three compartments by arches. The 
 first or larger one being the library portion, lighted by a 
 lantern light carried on curved ribs, and fitted with oak 
 book-cases, having in front of them upholstered benches. 
 
BARRISTERS 5 CORRIDOR 
 
 Page 22. 
 
 
THE BARRISTERS’ LIBRARY. 
 
 Page 22. 
 
 40 
 

 
ASSIZE COURTS. 23 
 
 The two other compartments are open to the library, 
 but have recesses for conversation or reading, formed 
 by the piers which project to support the dividing arches. 
 These two are roofed in wooden Gothic vaulting, and they are 
 lighted by stained glass windows, containing crests and 
 shields of arms of judges. A handsome fireplace at each end 
 of the room is surmounted by mirrors to suit the form of the 
 vaulting. 
 
 Cljt Itobrmj Hoorn 
 
 has, attached, all requisite convenience for the toilet, &c. j 
 Each barrister is provided with a diminutive wardrobe and | 
 receptacle for his wig-box, &c. 
 
 Cff* Sheriff's Court, 
 
 a small court, situate at the south end of the hall, and j 
 approached from the south corridor, and also from the 
 corridors leading from the hall thereto, is lighted from above. 
 This court is fitted up in a more simple manner than the last 
 described, but it forms a nice court for business, and is a useful 
 auxiliary to the criminal and to the civil courts during the 
 assizes. 
 
 On the same floor are rooms for the Chief of police, 
 Governor of the gaol, and other officials ; also retiring rooms, 
 &c., for the High Sheriff, consultation rooms for attorneys, 
 and large waiting-rooms for witnesses for both courts, those 
 for witnesses for prosecutions being separate from those for 
 witnesses for defence. 
 
24 
 
 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 A handsome stone staircase, at the south end of the 
 buildings in the octagonal projection near the porch in 
 Southall-street, gives access to the upper corridor, and to the 
 ladies’ gallery of the Criminal court, to a handsome room for 
 meetings of magistrates on the same floor, and to consultation 
 rooms, also to a dining-room and refreshment-room for 
 barristers, fitted up handsomely with oak furniture, and having 
 a ceiling ornamented by stencilling, and in colours. Around 
 the cornices are painted mottoes and texts appropriate to the 
 uses of the room. 
 
 Looking east, also commanding the Gaol, is the 
 
 IJtagistaies’ D oarCr iterant, 
 
 a lofty and well-proportioned apartment, 27 feet square. 
 There is an ante-room attached. The fire-place is similar in 
 design and construction to that of the Grand Jury Room. 
 Round the cornice are the following texts:— “If any man 
 
 LACK WISDOM, LET HIM ASK OF GOD, WHO GIVETH TO ALL MEN 
 LIBERALLY, AND UPBRAIDETH NOT.” “ WlSDOM RESTETH IN THE 
 HEART OF HIM THAT HATH UNDERSTANDING.” “ HoW MUCH 
 BETTER IS IT TO GET WISDOM THAN GOLD.” 
 
 Cl n barristers’ Dinimj 
 
 is a noble apartment 22 yards by 16, fo which is attached 
 a spacious ante-chamber for the purpose of luncheon, with 
 butler’s pantry, scullery, and hoists, to convey the dinner 
 
GRAND JURY ROOM, 
 
 Page 25, 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 25 
 
 from the kitchen underneath. Around the cornice are the 
 following texts:—“I f thine enemy be hungry, give him 
 
 BREAD TO EAT I IF HE BE THIRSTY, GIVE HIM WATER TO DRINK, 
 FOR THOU SHALT HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD; AND THE 
 
 Lord shall reward thee.” “ Better is a dinner of herbs 
 
 WHERE LOVE IS THAN A STALLED OX AND HATRED THEREWITH.” 
 
 “Whether therefore ye eat or drink, do all to the 
 glory of God.” The details of this room are in unison with 
 other parts of the building. 
 
 <kbt 6nmb Jui'jr lloom 
 
 with its ante-room and retiring-room, is on the upper floor, 
 over the main entrance, as before named. The floor of the 
 room has a margin of parqueterie around an Axminster carpet, 
 and the room has a paneling or dado wood-work as a surbase. 
 The ceiling is formed of moulded beams, on carved Caen- 
 stone corbels, the compartments being enriched by plaster 
 rib-work and coloured ornamentation. Round the cornice 
 are inscribed the following texts from the Scriptures : “ Thus 
 saith the Lord, keep ye judgment and do justice.” “To 
 
 KNOW WISDOM AND INSTRUCTION, TO PERCEIVE WORDS OF UNDER¬ 
 STANDING, TO RECEIVE THE INSTRUCTION OF WISDOM, JUSTICE, 
 AND JUDGMENT, AND EQUITY.” “ COUNSEL IS MINE AND 
 SOUND WISDOM | I AM UNDERSTANDING J BY ME KINGS 
 
 reign and princes decree justice.” The fire-place is a 
 bold canopy, supported on marble shafts, having a dog- 
 grate, and tile back and sides and hearth. The furniture of 
 this room is in black oak (imitation), and like the rest 
 
26 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 of the furniture of the building, was for the most part 
 designed by the architect; it is handsome, substantial, and 
 though in character with the architecture of the building, is 
 not of an expensive kind. It was supplied by Messrs. 
 Bird & Hull ; Cabinet Makers and Upholsterers, 106, King- 
 Street, Manchester. 
 
 Beyond the grand jury-room and in the pavilion to the 
 N.W. is the 
 
 Cljanarir Court 
 
 fitted up in oak much after the same style as the Sheriff’s 
 Court. The judge’s retiring room and two or three consul¬ 
 tation rooms complete the suites of rooms on the upper 
 floor, and the ground floor may be reached by the north-east 
 grand staircase, near the foot of which is the entrance for 
 the judges into their residence. 
 
 This residence comprises on the ground floor a handsome 
 hall and massive staircase of pitch pine, the kitchen and 
 servants' day-rooms. On the upper floor a suite of drawing¬ 
 room, dining-room, and morning-room for the judges—all 
 handsomely furnished—also rooms for the resident Steward 
 and the Judge’s Clerk. On the upper floor are bedrooms, 
 dressing-rooms, and all the accessories sufficient for the two 
 Judges, their clerks, marshalls, and suite of servants. The 
 Judges bring with them their own servants during assizes. 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 27 
 
 £I« Essije Courts 
 
 proper, or the main building, is warmed by hot-water pipes 
 circulating along channels at the level of the chief floor— 
 these pipes, at certain places where more heat is required, 
 being concentrated in groups or coils. The courts are so 
 warmed, by coils of pipes in chambers beneath them, the 
 chambers having large valves or doors to regulate the 
 direction and force of the current of air. To each of the 
 chief courts a fan or blower, propelled by a steam- 
 engine, is made use of when occasion requires, to force 
 currents of air into the courts. The direction of the current 
 is under control so as to pass it cold direct into the courts— 
 or the air may be warmed by passing between the convolutions 
 of the hot water pipes, before finding its way into the courts. 
 
 The courts are ventilated by apertures in the ceiling, com¬ 
 municating with passages or trunks above the ceiling in the 
 roof which convey the vitiated air from the courts and rooms 
 into the tower, which acts as a ventilating shaft. At the 
 people’s end of the platform are open gratings in the risers of 
 the steps, through which also vitiated air passes direct to the 
 shaft above named. 
 
 The chief supply of cold air is obtained through open¬ 
 ings beneath the front entrance—whence chambers are 
 made for its passage to the chambers beneath the courts. 
 Immediately on entering the air-chamber beneath the entrance 
 
28 
 
 ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 the air has to pass through three archways; in the centre of 
 each archway is a jet for water with a very fine orifice 
 —directly in front of which a disc is placed. "When the 
 water is turned on, by the stream impinging against the disc, 
 a fine spray is formed completely filling the openings through 
 which the air has to pass—and in passing through the spray, 
 a great portion of the dust carried in with the air is deposited 
 on the floor and carried away by the water into a drain. The 
 air in summer is cooled several degrees by the same operation. 
 
 These then are some of the details connected with the 
 Hundred of Salford Assize Courts. It will be perceived that 
 they do not suffer by comparison with those of other 
 important cities in the kingdom, either in point of size, 
 beauty, or convenience of arrangement. “ It is indeed a magni¬ 
 ficent structure: and when the flag fluttering from its lofty 
 tower proclaims to all around the presence within its walls 
 of the Judges of the land, symbolising at once the majesty 
 and empire of the law, a feeling of pride, a sense of security 
 take possession of the beholder. Strength is given to the 
 honest man to persevere in the path of rectitude ; fear is cast 
 upon the dishonest, or upon him who at present only medi¬ 
 tates a crime or a fraud, and thus the whole moral and 
 social constitution of the nation becomes more firmly cemented, 
 more strongly built-up and established. 
 
 “But alas for criminals under trial! the poor wretches whose 
 sands of life or freedom are hastening to a speedy close, 
 whose hopes of liberty or salvation from an ignominious death 
 are growing fainter and fainter with every ruffle of the banner. 
 Alas for them and for those hapless kinsmen, still more to be 
 
ASSIZE COURTS. 29 
 
 pitied, upon whose hearts, at least when once again that 
 flag-staff is bare, the reflected brand of a felon’s doom will 
 for ever have left its mark indelibly stamped. We pity even the 
 worst of criminals. Common humanity teaches us to do so. 
 Common humanity, and that secret internal something which 
 whispers to each man that he too, under circumstances of 
 some peculiar temptation, might have fallen. We pity them, 
 the weak, erring, guilty of our brethren, whom the law for our 
 good consigns either to life-long misery, or a violent death 
 but if there be one human being on the face of the earth to 
 whom the tribute of sympathy, genuine and unqualified is due 
 and duly paid, it is the earnest, loving, faithful, innocent 
 friend who from the guilty courses of his or her nearest and 
 dearest, having long endured undeserved affliction, now in his 
 bitter ignominious end shares also the dishonour, the grief, 
 the shame. What must be the feelings of such an one when 
 he beholds the flag from whose folds, all gaily fluttering in 
 the breeze, he knows is presently about to be fashioned the 
 dishonoured shroud of a once—a still—beloved friend or 
 relation—lover, husband, son, or brother!”* 
 
 * From the Manchester Free Lance, April 8th, 1869. 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL 
 
 Jfoi' % fpttitbrtii of Satforb 
 
 | Yll S situate in Southall-street, on a plot of land bounded by 
 n that street, Sherburne-street, Exchange-street, and the 
 Assize Courts; it covers an area of more than 8 acres. 
 Facing Southall-street, passing up that street from Strange- 
 ways, the first block of buildings comprises the entrance, with 
 the Governor’s residence to the left, and the Porter’s lodge to 
 the right, and near it is the residence of the Chief Warder. 
 The Machine-house is further up the street, looking on to it. 
 
 The style of the building throughout is Gothic in charac¬ 
 ter, but of the massive Norman type. The arched entrance, 
 with its waggon-vaulted vestibule, is bold and effective, while 
 the massive outer doors and the inner iron gates give war¬ 
 ranty of the general security of the entrance against any 
 ordinary acts of violence. 
 
 The Gaol proper is divided into two sections; the Men’s 
 Gaol being the one near the entrance gates, with cells for 
 nearly 800 prisoners; the Women’s Gaol, the smaller, having 
 cells for upwards of 800 prisoners. A cursory description of 
 the Men’s Gaol as regards its internal arrangements and 
 general form will serve also to illustrate the Women’s Goal, 
 for, generally speaking, the arrangements of the two buildings 
 are identical. 
 
 On entering through the before-named groined vestibule or 
 
BIRD’S EYE VIEW CF THE GAOL, 
 
 Page 30. 
 

 
 
 / 
 
 ✓ 
 
 
 
 
 V „ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 , 
 
 
 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 31 
 
 archway, the two pairs of gates will be closed and locked on 
 the visitor, who then will be conducted up a flight of steps to 
 the arched portal of the Men’s Gaol. Within, this portal is 
 vaulted with stone moulded cross arches, and brick groining. 
 To the right and to the left of the portal are the offices of the 
 Governor and his clerks, a large room for meeting of Magis¬ 
 trates, and offices for solicitors who come to see and consult 
 prisoners who await their trial. There are also rooms for 
 the friends of prisoners to w r ait in, and compartments separated 
 therefrom, into which prisoners are conducted and remain j 
 while conversing with their friends. These visits are made 
 in the presence of the officers of the gaol, one of whom walks 
 to and fro in a passage which separates the prisoners from 
 their friends. 
 
 Beyond the rooms above-named, is another strong screen, | 
 iron-barred, and with doors which give access directly to the 
 Central Hall of the Men’s Gaol; and if the visitor place him- | 
 self immediately in the centre of this Hall he may obtain a 
 coup-d’ceil of the interior of the whole gaol, by turning him¬ 
 self round as it were, on an imaginary point, for this Hall 
 serves as a Nave to the Gaol, whence radiate six wings 
 like spokes from the nave of a wheel. The wings, as | 
 I they are called, consist of a central corridor, about five yards | 
 wide, to the right and to the left of which are the cells for the I 
 incarceration of prisoners. All the wings are of 4 storeys in ] 
 height, one storey being below the level at which the visitor is I 
 supposed to be standing on entering the gaol; one at the same j 
 level as the floor on which he is supposed*to stand; and two ! 
 storeys above that level. These storeys are 10 feet high j 
 each above the general floor level. All the wings have ' 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 | 32 
 
 galleries running on each side all their lengths, to give access 
 to the cells ; these galleries are approached by staircases 
 from the central hall, and from the ends of the wings. The 
 galleries have, on their open sides, light iron railings for 
 security, about 4 feet high, the top rail serving as a level 
 runner on which travelling platforms are made to pass for con¬ 
 veying the food and work along the lengths of the wings to 
 the various cells. The travelling platforms span the corridor 
 from railing to railing of the galleries, and run on 4 grooved 
 wheels. They are of very light hut firm construction, and are 
 both useful and ornamental. 
 
 The Cells are each 13 feet long, 7 feet wide, and about 9 feet 
 high, and as they are warmed to a comfortable temperature, 
 and well ventilated and lighted, and, in addition to this, are 
 thoroughly clean, they form most “comfortable” quarters. 
 Each cell has its wooden bedstead, which in the daytime is con¬ 
 trived so as to be made use of as a table, (an arrangement 
 due to the Governor,) and also a cupboard in the corner, a 
 gas jet, not under the control of the prisoner, a water tap and 
 closet. The cells have floors of tiles, and are arched over 
 with brickwork. The doors are in iron frames, and they are 
 lined with iron. Each door has in it a trap, which is made 
 so as to fall down and form a shelf on the inside, on which at 
 meal times the food-can of the prisoner is placed, and on 
 which he has to put the empty can, to be collected after 
 meals, when the “food-trap” is closed up. Besides this, 
 each door has an inspection apparatus, consisting of an eye¬ 
 hole in the door with thick glass and a metal cover on the 
 outside, so that a warder may at any time observe the prisoner 
 in his cell without being himself seen. 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 33 
 
 Many of the cells are fitted-up with looms for weaving 
 matting and calico. The manufacture of door-mats and floor- 
 mats of different kinds, is extensively carried on within the 
 gaol by male prisoners, and some of the manufactures are of 
 very good design. 
 
 Other cells are fitted-up as carpenters’ and turners’ shops, 
 &c., and in others the trades of the tailor and shoemaker are j 
 carried on. 
 
 In the basement are cells for refractory prisoners, or such 
 as refuse to work, or who in any way infringe on the rules of 
 the gaol. Many of these cells are dark, with double doors, 
 and in these an imprisonment of two or three days, on a diet 
 of bread and water, must be no slight punishment to a nervous 
 individual. Within the gaol are baths, with hot and cold 
 water, and foot-baths, similarly supplied with water, which 
 at fixed intervals of time are used by the prisoners, a certain 
 number of them being conducted to the bath each day. 
 
 In the spaces between the wings, and joining to the central 
 hall, are rooms on every storey for the warders—each room is 
 plainly but comfortably furnished; those on the upper storey 
 serve for sleeping rooms. 
 
 The Chapel occupies the upper part of the whole of the 
 wing, on which is the entrance to the gaol. It is a large 
 room with an open timbered roof, lighted from three sides and 
 the roof. The end farthest from the central hall has a gallery 
 across its whole width, and returning in two transeptal 
 recesses. In this gallery are pews for the governor and for 
 magistrates; also for the officers of the gaol. The men and 
 women’s divisions of the chapel are screened from each other, 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 so that the two sexes cannot see each other when in chapel. 
 The part occupied by the women is nearest the pulpit, and 
 the women have access direct to it by a covered way from 
 the prison. The men’s portion of the chapel is approached 
 from the central hall of the men’s gaol. The seats are on an 
 inclined platform, and form a kind of amphitheatre. This 
 space is divided into six sections by iron railings, and to each 
 section is allotted a warder, who has a raised seat to enable 
 him to see the prisoners in his charge. 
 
 Besides this chapel, which is used for the Protestant ser¬ 
 vice only, the Koman Catholics have allotted to them a large 
 room fitted-up with the requisite furniture for the performance 
 of the services'of that faith. 
 
 At the level of the basement floor a long passage unites 
 the men’s gaol with the women’s gaol, and midway between 
 the two gaols on this passage, are placed the cooking kitchen 
 and bakeries, and the steam boilers for cooking, washing, &c.; 
 and above the bakeries and the boiler-houses is a large 
 washhouse and laundry. In this place, which is lofty, light, 
 and well-ventilated, the various~operations of the blanchisseuse 
 are carried on on the separate system. The women wash 
 in separate stalls, each tray having its supply of hot and cold 
 water. An Amazonian dame keeps in rapid motion a wring¬ 
 ing machine, which expels water from the rinsed clothes by 
 centrifugal force, and whence they are sent, half-dry, to the 
 drying closet, which is placed on a platform a few feet above 
 the ground, approached by an openwork iron staircase. The 
 drying closet is heated by steam pipes, and the horses are 
 made to run in front of it on rollers and rails. 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 85 
 
 The chief jpart of the cookery of the gaol is also done by 
 the agency of steam. The soups are made in steam boilers, 
 the potatoes are cooked in wire sieves, in steam chests. 
 During the serving-up of dinners, a busy scene presents itself 
 in the kitchen, which though 60 feet long, and about 30 wide, 
 is not one bit too large for its purpose. The dinners are 
 placed in round tin cans, about a dozen on a wooden tray, and 
 the wooden trays are packed on a waggon which is wheeled 
 off respectively to the basement of the women’s or of the 
 men’s gaol, in the central halls of which are machine-worked 
 hoists communicating with every floor of the gaol, by which 
 the can-filled trays are lifted to the respective floors and 
 conveyed, on the travelling carriage before-mentioned, to their 
 various destinations. In like manner, the emptied cans are 
 collected and returned to the washing-up places adjacent to 
 the kitchen. 
 
 The Women’s Gaol is, as has before been said, very 
 much like that for men, only it is smaller, has no chapel, nor 
 are any of the cells made use of as workshops, unless one 
 used for a sewing machine may be so called. Nevertheless, 
 m occupation is found for the women in sewing, washing, and 
 laundry work, and in scouring their prison, which is wonder¬ 
 fully clean of aspect. 
 
 The effect of the gaol, looking down the corridors, is 
 highly picturesque and interesting, for the upper part of the 
 corridor is divided into bays by equilateral gothic arches, sup¬ 
 ported on stone corbels, the tout ensemble reminding one of 
 the noble aisles of some of the continental cathedrals. This 
 is more especially so in one instance in the men’s gaol, where 
 the vista is of no less extent than 500 feet. 
 
8G THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 I 
 
 The Gaols are ventilated by a system of underground tun¬ 
 nels in communication with every cell, and with the large cam¬ 
 panile-like shaft which serves as a smoke stack as well as a 
 ventilating shaft. An adventurous visitor may obtain a good 
 bird’s-eye view of the gaol and of the city, by ascending to the 
 balcony of this tower or shaft, which is approached by about 
 a couple of hundred of stone steps winding round the interior 
 of the shaft. 
 
 The Infirmaries are detached buildings—one for men, the 
 other for women. Each infirmary has a couple of wards for 
 convalescent patients, who are allowed to be in association. 
 They are spacious and cheerful apartments, well warmed 
 by water pipes, lighted and ventilated; and besides these 
 there are cells for prisoners who have special ailments 
 requiring isolation ; and to each infirmary is attached a resi¬ 
 dence for the attendant, while near to each is a “dead-house.” 
 
 Close to the entrance to the gaol is a block of buildings 
 called the Reception Cells, a department complete for each sex. 
 Each has a number of cells, into which prisoners are put on 
 being received into prison. Here prisoners have to leave 
 their own clothes, and after receiving a warm bath, of which 
 I there are about sixteen in these buildings, they have to don 
 the garb of the prison. The clothes of each of the prisoners 
 are then labelled and stored away till he takes his departure 
 from the gaol. 
 
 A Treadmill for 80 men to work at one time, serves to fur¬ 
 nish the hard-labour for part of the prisoners, who by its agency 
 pump from a deep well all the water used in the gaol. There 
 
THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 37 
 
 are various other buildings, requring no special notice at our 
 hands, the chief of which are the works for dyeing, bleaching, 
 and drying the fibre from which mats are made, the various 
 operations in which are performed by the prisoners. 
 
 An account of the gaol would scarcely be complete with¬ 
 out some notice of the Condemned Cell. This is placed in 
 the basement of the wing B, in the men’s gaol: it is formed 
 by two of the ordinary cells being opened into one, and it is 
 furnished in a manner similar to the ordinary cells, but it has 
 two doors; one leads from the gaol corridor into the part of 
 the cell intended for the prisoner’s occupation ; the other 
 conducts to a portion of the cell which is barred off by iron 
 bars, and is intended for the reception of friends of the con¬ 
 demned who may visit him, but who are kept from immediate 
 contact with him by the railings. 
 
 The place of Execution is immediately contiguous to the 
 condemned cell; to approach it the prisoner is conducted 
 across the corridor through an opposite cell, forming a vesti¬ 
 bule, out of which, by double doors, he enters into a covered 
 shed about 15 feet square, made to enclose the gallows. When 
 this instrument is required for use, it is necessary only to 
 throw open a pair of folding doors, which form the outer front 
 of the shed, and the gallows and platform fold outwards, and 
 are immediately ready for the purpose of the execution. 
 In place of the cost and annoyance of the preparations which 
 formerly had to be made previously to an execution, a few 
 minutes now serve to prepare the whole apparatus, and as 
 short a time serves to stow it away again. 
 
 The cost of the gaol buildings has been somewhat over 
 £170,000. 
 
38 
 
 THE NEW COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 A handsome black marble tablet, placed at the entrance 
 to the Men’s Gaol, bears the following inscription :— 
 
 County Prison for the Hundred of Salford. 
 
 prison 
 
 DESIGNED FOR THE CUSTODY OF 
 
 744 Male and 315 Female Prisoners on the 
 “Separate System” 
 of Prison Discipline, 
 
 Was first occupied on the 25th of June, 1868, having been 4 years 
 and 6 months in building. The cost of its erection was defrayed by 
 a rate upon the Hundred of Salford, exclusive of the City of 
 Manchester and Borough of Bolton, and by the Sale of the Site and 
 Materials of the New Bailey Prison in the adjoining Borough of 
 
 Salford. 
 
 Qlty 30utlhtng (Committee. 
 
 JOHN TOMLINSON HIBBERT, Esq., M.P., Chairman. 
 
 Sir E lean ah Armitage, Knight. 
 Robert Heywood, Esq. 
 
 Rev. J. Shepherd Birley, Clerk. 
 John Grundy, Esq. 
 
 Robert Gladstone, Esq. 
 
 Samuel Ashton, Esq. 
 
 William Rayner Wood, Esq. 
 
 Henry Leigh Trafford, Esq. 
 Nathan Worthington, Esq. 
 
 Edmund Ashworth, Esq. 
 
 Robert Needham Philips, Esq., M.P. 
 John Robinson Kay, Esq. 
 
 John Kay, Esq. 
 
 Edward Riley Langworthy, Esq. 
 John Platt, Esq. M.P. 
 
 Charles Hilditch Rickards, Esq. 
 Edward Ovens, Esq. 
 
 John Hick, Esq. 
 
 Thomas Dickins, Esq. 
 
 John Schofield, Esq. 
 
 Hugh Mason, Esq. 
 
 John Duncuft, Esq. 
 
 Arthur Henry Heywood, Esq. 
 Alfred Milne, Esq. 
 
 Fred. B. C. Hulton, Law Cleric. 
 Captain Thomas Henry Mitchell, Governor. 
 Alfred Waterhouse, Architect. 
 
 Henry Littler, Clerk of the Works. 
 
A BRIEF OUTLINE DESCRIPTIVE OF 
 
 ST. GEORGE’S HALL, LIVERPOOL, 
 
 Compiled from a Description given in the “Builder,” in 1855. 
 
 T. GEORGE’S HALL stands prominently on the rising 
 banks of the Mersey, on the north-east side, about 
 half-a-mile from the sea. The building, which is in 
 style an adaptation of classical architecture to the service of 
 the day, is situated on a rapid declivity, covering, together 
 with its area and approaches, about 3^ acres. 
 
 The building itself, 490 feet long, and 165 feet wide, occu¬ 
 pies the lower side of the site, which, being raised by a 
 magnificent sub-basement, correcting the natural defect of 
 the ground by a terrace occupying the whole site, presents a 
 very elevated and striking aspect. 
 
 Perhaps the rival in extent and regularity that best com- 
 compares with the building, in Europe, is the Bourse of Paris, 
 which covers about one-third less extent of ground; the Order 
 also of the latter is only 50 feet, that at St. Paul’s is 48 feet, 
 while that of St. George’s Hall is 56 feet 6 inches. 
 
 The Great Central Hall, 169 feet long by 100 feet in the 
 entire width, including corridors leading to the several offices 
 of the courts and town, is terminated by the Criminal and 
 Nisi Prius Courts of Justice. At the south end is the entrance 
 to the Grand Jury rooms and defendants’ offices, and at the 
 
40 
 
 st. George’s hall, Liverpool. 
 
 north is a magnificent entrance hall, leading to a music room, 
 equal to the largest theatre, being 88 feet long by 72 feet 
 wide. The seats for the audience are arranged to hold about 
 1,600 : a gallery runs round the room, omitted, of course, at 
 the stage. 
 
 In a critical review of St. George’s Hall, in the Builder , 
 of 1865, the author of the review says with some justice 
 “The merit of St. George’s Hall lies chiefly in the exterior, 
 which is equalled by but little of the interior,”—“ convenience 
 and propriety of plan, as regards entrance to the Courts, have 
 been sacrificed to the very questionable advantage of having 
 the three apartments seen together and to form one architec¬ 
 tural vista. I call it a questionable advantage, as there could 
 be but little occasion for any one standing in the Civil Court 
 and looking through the Hall to see a Criminal Court in the 
 distance.” The author says “ In conclusion let me say that 
 it is from no fault seeking temper that I have dwelt on the 
 defects—or what I deem such—of this remarkable structure. 
 While all its beauties may justly be placed to the credit of the 
 Architect, its blemishes are, for the most part, the result of 
 untoward circumstances. The want of a vestibule, for 
 instance, to the Great Hall, and other omissions of a plan, in 
 many respects ingenious, are attributable to the preclusion by 
 limitations and other difficulties of site, of that general 
 outline of building which was alone capable of containing 
 the right accommodation, together with the discordant mixture 
 of purposes to which the whole was dedicated.” 
 
A BRIEF OUTLINE DESCRIPTIVE OF 
 
 LEEDS TOWN HALL, 
 
 (Now used as the Assize Courts,) 
 
 Compiled from a Description given in the “Builder” in 1853. 
 
 f jHE building stands on an elevated platform, and is in 
 form a parallelogram of 250 feet by 200 feet: it is 
 surrounded by Corinthian eolumns and pilasters sup¬ 
 porting an entablature and attic, altogether about 65 feet in 
 height. 
 
 The Large Hall rises out of the centre of the building to a 
 height of 92 feet from the ground, the south or principal 
 facade differs from the rest by having a deeply recessed por¬ 
 tico of ten columns, and a flight of 25 steps leading up to the 
 same 105 feet in length, with large pedestals at the corners. 
 The inter-columniations at the sides of the building are 
 divided into two ranges of semi-circular headed windows, 
 which lessen its monumental character. 
 
 The Great Hall is 190 feet long (measuring above the 
 vestibule) by 71 feet wide and 73 feet high. The ceiling is 
 
42 LEEDS TOWN HALL. 
 
 arched and divided into panels. The sides of the hall are 
 divided into 5 bays, by coupled or Corinthian columns and 
 pilasters, 80 feet in height, and in each bay there is a window. 
 
 The North-end of the Hall is semi-circular, and appropriated 
 for an ample orchestra. At the south-end there is a large 
 gallery, which extends over the vestibule. The Hall is calcu¬ 
 lated to hold 8,000 persons. At each side of the Hall there 
 are refreshment rooms, dressing rooms, &c. 
 
 There are also, on the ground-floor, at each corner of the 
 building, three large Law Courts, and a spacious Council 
 Room. The two law courts, for civil and criminal business, 
 are at the north-end of the building, the sizes of each being 
 58 feet long by 47 wide, and 45 feet high. 
 
 The Borough Court and Council Room are at the south- 
 end of the building. The former being 53 feet long, 39 feet 
 wide, and 40 feet high. 
 
 There are separate entrances to the different departments, 
 and the w y hole building is connected by a corridor 10 feet 
 wide, which runs round the large hall. 
 
 A fine Tower surmounts the portico, which groups well 
 with the other features of the structure. 
 
Advertisements 
 
 OF THE VARIOUS CONTRACTORS AND SUB-CONTRACTORS WHOSE NAMES 
 ARE MENTIONED IN THE PRECEDING PAGES. 
 
 SAMUEL BRAMALL, 
 
 Wuilbtv anti Contractor 
 
 FOR THE ASSIZE COURTS AND COUNTY GAOL. 
 
 THOMAS LITTLE, 
 
 MANAGER TO THE LATE SAMUEL BRAMALL. 
 
 SWINDELLS & laITTKB. 
 
 • • / 
 
 (SUCCESSORS TO THE ABOVE,) 
 
 BUILDERS, ETC., 
 
 "Bristol Street, Wulme, 
 
 
 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 WILLIAM WILSON, 
 
 50, KING STREET, & 3 & 5, ST. JAMES’S SQUARE, 
 
 MANCHESTER, 
 
 MANUFACTURER AND IMPORTER OF 
 
 CHIMNEY PIECES 
 
 In Foreign & British Marbles, 
 
 ©RATES MMB HITCH EH RAH0HS. 
 
 -- 
 
 W. W. invites an inspection of his Large Stock, fixed 
 up complete, with suitable Grates, Fenders, Fire-irons, 
 and Tile Hearths . 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 JOHN COXON, 
 
 yppnrlj JPoligljpr anb #fainpr, 
 
 3 & 5, Mulberry Street, 
 
 Jjltdme, 
 
 ^VLaNCH ESTER. 
 
 Lavatories, & c ., 
 
 GAS AND WATER SUPPLY, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM HARRISON & SONS, 
 
 Salford Lead Works. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 Widdiam Hood & Go., 
 
 yainfpr^Ijtoiigp l^prorefops, (Jilfbpps, 
 
 Paper-Hangers, &c., 
 
 55, LOWER MOSLEY STREET, 
 
 MANCHESTER. 
 
 J. W. HINDSHAW, 
 
 mraiLiijt, 
 
 AND 
 
 in Ciutnnu-f i(n(, &c., 
 
 74, Gartside Street, 
 
 QUAY STREET. 
 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 stent IKnnlenm Jffow Cl«t|, 
 
 AS SUPPLIED TO THE ASSIZE COURTS. 
 
 90, MOSLEY STREET, 
 
 THE 
 
 “FREE RANGE,” 
 
 Every Saturday. 
 
 PRICE. ORE PERRY. 
 
 36, CORPORATION STREET, MANCHESTER. 
 
¥ 
 
14*15