The Judges Lodgings,

The Judges Lodgings was built in 1849-50 by E.B. Lamb to provide accommodation for the Assize judges on their visits to Aylesbury. It is a spacious four-storey building connected to the court rooms in the Hall by an overhead passage. Judges continued to stay there until the abolition of the Assize courts in 1971.

The Judges Lodgings is a building of character which has stood for over 150 years in the centre of Aylesbury. The contents of the building reveal an interesting history of the judicial and civil administration of the county which is being preserved and maintained for succeeding generations.

The Site The building stands on part of the site of the old , court and gaol, erected between 1720 and 1740. When a new county gaol was built on Bierton Hill in 1847, it was decided that the old gaol should be demolished and part of the site used to build a lodging for the Assize judges. Prior to this judges had to be found quarters in private houses. The County Hall was left standing and is now used as the Crown Court.

The The county assizes took place twice-yearly for the trial of prisoners held in the gaol and the hearing of civil pleas. The status and economic benefits conferred by the assizes led to intense rivalry between and Aylesbury, both of which laid claim to being the Aylesbury from Court Farm Fields by N. Whittock, c1840. The County county town. In 1849 an Act was passed awarding both Hall is the red brick building on the upper right hand side. assizes to Aylesbury.

Judges who used the Lodgings in the 20th century included eminent legal names, among them Norman (later Lord) Birkett, Lord Chief Justice Parker and future Lord Chief Justices Goddard, Widgery and Lane. Perhaps the most famous assizes for which the Lodgings was used was the trial of the Great Train Robbers at Special Assizes in 1964 before Mr Justice Edmund Davies. The last occasion on which the Lodgings was used for the intended purpose was for the final Assizes, the Autumn Assizes of 1970.

The Architect Edward Buckton Lamb (1806-1869) is noted for an eclectic, eccentric and picturesque approach to architecture. His obituary in The Builder a ha he constantly endeavoured, even at the expense of beauty, o ehibi originali.

Guide to the Building

Much of the furniture is early Victorian in style and was supplied by Messrs Thomas Charles Druce and Co. of the Baker Street Bazaar, London, for the opening of the building in 1850. The Judges Lodgings also contains numerous paintings and engravings which depict local dignitaries or Buckinghamshire scenes.

Entrance

Immediately inside the entrance, on the left, is a stone plaque which records that the bilding conaining he Machinery necessary for providing Labour for the convicts in this Gaol a ereced in 1818. This refers to a giant treadwheel, 21 feet in diameter, which was operated by those convicts sentenced to hard labour.

The stairs to the first-floor are lined with official photographs of Chairmen of Buckinghamshire (BCC) since 2001. A board listing all the former Chairmen of the Council is displayed on the first-floor landing in the alcove

First-floor Landing To the left are two large oil paintings: Bucolic scene (neo-classical) with man, two women, two children and animals Portrait of the 2nd Lord Carrington (1796-1868), Lord Lieutenant 1839- 1868 Between the two paintings is a bas-relief stone swan from 14th or 15th centuries which was the keystone of the archway at the entrance to the old gaol in Walton Street.

Above the doorway to Room 3 is: Portrait of Gillian M. M. Miscampbell, Chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council 1989-1993, by James Orr

To the far right of the landing i a maiden head from a Roman gravestone at Neumagen, Germany, dated from 2AD. It was presented by the President of the Bezirksregierung of Trier in 1989. On the walls flanking it are engravings of local places including , Burnham Priory and Gregories, Beaconsfield. Also on display are the arms of Buckinghamshire County Council, which were granted in 1948. The coat of arms of the borough of Buckingham is also displayed.

The hat, coat and wig stands and the set of scrolled, shield-backed chairs are presumed to be contemporary with the building, as is the rosewood veneer card-table on a four-footed pedestal, the top of which unfolds to reveal a rose baize playing circle and swivels to reveal a drawer for gaming equipment.

Room 1 (Small Dining Room)

This room contains an 18th-century edition of John Speed map of Bckinghamhire, 1610. The insets include a plan of the town of Buckingham.

The mantel clock is by Aylesbury clock-maker Thomas White Field and dates from c1860.

The walls contain engravings and photographs of past Prime Ministers and other prominent figures with Buckinghamshire connections.

Paintings include:

Heath Pond, Leighton Buzzard, by Wynford Dewhurst (1864-1941), member, Buckinghamshire County Council, 1907-10 Portrait of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887-1969), Lord Lieutenant 1954-1961, by Norman Hepple

Room 2 (Large Dining Room)

This room is used for receptions, dinners and entertainments. It is the room where the current Chairman of the County Council entertains visitors, as well as being the location of many important meetings associated with the business of the county.

Portraits in this room include:

2nd Lord Cottesloe The Right Hon Lord Anslow (1830-1918), Benjamin (1850-1933), Chairman of Bucks Disraeli Chairman of BCC Quarter Sessions 1st Marquess of 3rd Duke of (1804-1881), 1904-1921 Buckingham Buckingham and Prime Minister (1753-1813), Chandos 1868, 1874-80 Lord Lieutenant 1782- (1823-1889), 1813 Lord Lieutenant 1868-1889

Major John Darling Sir Nigel Mobbs 3rd Lord Cottesloe 5th Lord Cottesloe Young (1910-1988), (1937-2005), (1868-1947), (born 1927), Lord Lieutenant 1967-1984 Lord Lieutenant 1997-2005 Lord Lieutenant 1923-1954 Lord Lieutenant 1984-1997

Over the fireplace hangs a late-19th-century painting by R. C. Saunders after The Ble B of Thomas Gainsborough.

The furniture is chiefly of the period. Note especially the Gothic-style, oak armchair, heavily carved, with high arched back and barley-twist side rails and legs; and the mahogany sideboard fitted into the wall, the cupboard of which contains a zinc-lined wine-cooler.

Rm 3 (Membe Lnge)

In this room, members are able to assemble before meetings and relax over coffee and newspapers. The main feature of this room is the mahogany bookcase c.1850. It contains: A silver salver presented by the Marquess of as Lord Lieutenant, to mark the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 A 12-inch silver salver, with shell and scroll feet, and a two-handled cup and cover by Garrard and Co., silversmiths, of London (1921), presented to Dr Leonard Henry West, Chairman of BCC, on the occasion of his marriage in 1922 Two silvered bullets made by Broom and Wade of High Wycombe and presented to the Marquess of Lincolnshire in 1915 Two silvered teapots with the Buckinghamshire swan on the body, made by Makepeace and Walford of London

Portraits in this room include:

William 1st Lord 1st Lord Sir Thomas Digby Aubrey Crouch, Clerk of Cottesloe Rothschild Marquess of (1782-1856), the Peace (1798-1890), (1840-1915), Lincolnshire Chairman of Lord Lieutenant Chairman of 1888-1924 and (1843-1928), first Clerk to BCC Quarter Sessions 1889-1915 Quarter Sessions Lord Lieutenant 1889-1924 1875-1881 1915-1923

An exciting addition to the portrait collection in 2014 was this oil on copper of John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgwater (1646-1701), Lord Lieutenant 1686-1687 and 1689-1701

Room 4 (Drawing Room)

This room is used for informal meetings. The mantelpiece bears a pair of two-handled vases with floral decoration by James Clark of 28 Temple Street, Aylesbury. Oppoie he door i Emanel Boen map of Buckinghamshire, 1756, showing the division of the county into hundreds.

The room contains several engravings including: Herring Skeche on he Road - Post Horses and The Royal Mail Coach, Beaconsfield House, Hall Barn at Beaconsfield, and views of Great Marlow and of Hedsor Lodge. On the far wall is a printed view of Aylesbury from Court Farm Fields by N. Whittock, circa 1840. The castellated building to the right of the County Hall is part of the old gaol demolished in 1849.

Staircase and Second Floor

The paintings on the staircase include:

Pastoral scene with peasants Hunting party attacked by dancing wolves Kenneth I. Ross, by Johann H. Roos (1631-1685) copy after studio of Rubens Chairman of BCC 1994-2001

At the top of the stairs, to the left, are several group photographs of Buckinghamshire County Council and on the second and third floor landings are further portraits:

N. W. Gurney James T. Roger Parker- Sir Aubrey Ward Wilfred Allen (1880-1973), Ireland (1915- Jervis, (1899-1987), Rooke, Chairman of BCC 2006), Chairman Chairman of BCC Chairman of BCC Chairman of BCC 1947-1962 of BCC 1973-1981 1981-1985 1963-1974 1985-1989

John Stevenson, Henry William Sir Leonard Chief Executive of Cripps Sir Walter Carlile Henry William Henry West BCC 1974-1980 (1815-1899), (1862-1950), Cripps (1815- (1864-1950), Chairman of BCC MP for Buckingham 1899), first Chairman of BCC 1889-1897 1895-1906 Chairman of BCC 1921-1947 1889-1897 Most of the rooms on the second floor are now used as meeting rooms, including the robing room until recently still used by the Crown Court Judge. At the end of the landing is an overhead passage which leads to the court room in the County Hall, a feature which has always made the Judges Lodgings one of the most convenient of its kind in the country. The passage terminates at the door behind he jdge bench in he oer court.

This is an abridged version of the Guide to the Judges Lodgings produced by the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. Please contact them for further details by emailing [email protected]. The oil paintings displayed in the Judges Lodgings have been recorded by the Public Catalogue Foundation http://artuk.org/discover/artworks/search/venue:county-hall-aylesbury-4084