The Royal Courts of Brentford


Two very different buildings with very different histories

Brentford town is more fortunate than most to have not one Royal court but two, a County Court and a Magistrates Court.

Magistrates CourtBrentford Magistrates Court, situated in Market Place, was originally opened in 1850 as a combined Town Hall and Market House as well as for sessions of the County and Magistrates courts.

In 1891 the Town Hall was purchased by the Middlesex County Council for the use as a full-time Magistrates Court a second Court was added with a balcony in front, above this was placed the 18th century clock house by Jullion of Brentford. 

From 1929 the balcony was removed with a further court added and the outside was entirely rebuilt with a fine stone frontage.

This court is now in the news as being one of the Magistrates courts under threat of closure due to lack of full time use; it would be a great shame for this magnificent building to be used for anything other than its original purpose.

County CourtThe present County Court in Brentford’s Alexandra Road was opened in January 1963 as a purpose built County Court. It was previously operated within the Vestry Hall from 1907, this building being demolished in the 1960’s on the site where the present Police Station now stands which is known locally as the Brentford Hilton.

Planning consent required its entrance to be in a side road and not facing the High Street. This was to reduce any further traffic congestion with dropping off and picking people up during the day.

 

David Bright

Acknowledgement to Gillian Clegg for material sourced from her Brentford Past Book

Photos courtesy Steve Cadman


July 29, 2010

Related links
An Occasional History of Brentford

Brentford Baths

Visit Boston Manor House

Local Names for Local Buildings

Brentford Elections In The Past

Can You Help Solve A Mystery?

Brentford Pubs and Middlesex Coats of Arms

Brentford High Street As It Used To Be

Rejoicings on Arrival of the Queen in Brentford

Johann Zoffany (1733-1810)

Brentford Electric Theatre, as was

Brentford's War Memorial

A Brief History Of The Q Theatre

Meet Edward Turner, One Of Brentford's Many Heroes

A new acquisition at Boston Manor House

Historical Brentford in photos 

If you have any historical images of Brentford to share, please email them to editor@brentfordtw8.com so they can be added to the photo album. Ownership and copyright will be credited where applicable.

Historical Links

Local history enquiries to localstudies-hct@laing.com

For more local history articles and books see
Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society www.brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk
Brentford town and family history www.bhsproject.co.uk
and Friends of Boston Manor www.fobm.org.uk

Diana Willment, A Life in Brentford