History
The Wakefield and pontefract magistrates court was originally the police department for Wakefield City police. These operated between 1848 and 1968. The Wakefield Borough Police came into being in September 1848 after the Borough Council were tasked with forming a 'constabulary force' for the newly formed borough. The first police station was located in King Street and still stands today. The building originally being the 'Police and Vagrant Office' in 1829.The building consisted of two cells and a short time afterwards, a female detention was built on the first floor. In 1876 the police station moved to half of a renovated building 'Tammy Hall', which had been constructed in 1778 and when the southern half had been demolished to make way for the Town Hall, the northernmost part of the building was refurbished to form a new police and fire station. New buildings were added to the refurbished Tammy Hall, to the north (Chief Constable's Office and Charge Office); the west on King Street (Chief Constable's house) and the south (Fire Station). The ground floor housed 20 cells with an underground passage linking the cells in the police station to the cells below the Court Room in the Town Hall.This building is now the Wakefield and Pontefract Magistrates' Court. The court closed on 30th of September 2016 and all the cases covered by that district will be transferred to Leeds magistrates court as of the 3rd October 2016.
There's probably more history on this place.
Explore
There's not much to.say about the explore on this one except I'm glad I got there when I did as it was in the process of getting ripped out, so I will probably be the last one to see it. It was a bit of a personal explore for me as I had stood trial in this court before it closed. There were still some cool finds lying around. Anyway here are a few snaps before it's gone forever!
The Wakefield and pontefract magistrates court was originally the police department for Wakefield City police. These operated between 1848 and 1968. The Wakefield Borough Police came into being in September 1848 after the Borough Council were tasked with forming a 'constabulary force' for the newly formed borough. The first police station was located in King Street and still stands today. The building originally being the 'Police and Vagrant Office' in 1829.The building consisted of two cells and a short time afterwards, a female detention was built on the first floor. In 1876 the police station moved to half of a renovated building 'Tammy Hall', which had been constructed in 1778 and when the southern half had been demolished to make way for the Town Hall, the northernmost part of the building was refurbished to form a new police and fire station. New buildings were added to the refurbished Tammy Hall, to the north (Chief Constable's Office and Charge Office); the west on King Street (Chief Constable's house) and the south (Fire Station). The ground floor housed 20 cells with an underground passage linking the cells in the police station to the cells below the Court Room in the Town Hall.This building is now the Wakefield and Pontefract Magistrates' Court. The court closed on 30th of September 2016 and all the cases covered by that district will be transferred to Leeds magistrates court as of the 3rd October 2016.
There's probably more history on this place.
Explore
There's not much to.say about the explore on this one except I'm glad I got there when I did as it was in the process of getting ripped out, so I will probably be the last one to see it. It was a bit of a personal explore for me as I had stood trial in this court before it closed. There were still some cool finds lying around. Anyway here are a few snaps before it's gone forever!
