Hicks Hall

Hicks Hall shown on John Rocque's Map of London, 1746

The site of Hicks Hall on what is now an island in the middle of St John Street: its legacy includes the divergence of the building frontages to leave a thoroughfare to either side

Hicks Hall (1611–1778) was a building at the southern end of St John Street, Clerkenwell, London. It was the first purpose-built sessions house for justices of the peace of the county of Middlesex (including the City of Westminster), and became the main court of petty sessions and arraignment for more serious offences, including cases involving plots, attacks and minor transgressions against the state.

History

For many years prior to 1612 the Middlesex justices had held their sessions at the Castle or Windmill Tavern, on the east side of the street, just north of Smithfield Bar (a tollgate at the boundary of the City of London), and therefore one of the closest points in the county of Middlesex to the City.

The new building was paid for by wealthy fabric merchant Sir Baptist Hicks (or Hickes), later created 1st Viscount Campden. It opened in 1611 on land that had been granted to the magistrates of Middlesex by James I the previous year. The estimated cost of building alone was estimated at up to £900, in general commodities equivalent to £228,456 in 2023.

At the first session in the new building, it was resolved that the building would be named "Hicks-hall" in honour of its patron. For 167 years, Hicks Hall was used to hear cases in the county of Middlesex. It is mentioned in many contemporary reports, including Samuel Pepys's diary. One notable case was on 9 October 1660, when a grand jury was convened to try several men who signed the death warrant of Charles I.

Closure and successor courthouses

Hicks Hall remained in use until 1778. By that time the building had fallen into disrepair so was closed and demolished. Hicks Hall sessions were transferred to the new Middlesex Sessions House at Clerkenwell Green. In a main room there an engraved chimneypiece from the old sessions house was kept, which was inscribed:

Sir Baptist Hickes of Kensington in the County of Middlesex Knight one of the justices of the peace of this county of Middlesex of his worthy disposition and at his own proper charge buylt this session house in the year of our Lord God 1612 and gave it to the justices of peace of this county and their successors for a sessions house for ever. 1618.

When Middlesex Sessions House closed in 1921, cases spanning an Inner London area on both sides of the Thames were moved to the Sessions House in Newington.

Use as datum point

Hicks Hall was the notional starting point of the Great North Road, and was used as the datum point for mileages on that road. Measurements were taken from the building's front, which was approximately in the middle of St John Street ("the High-street of Saint John"), close to the junction with the much shorter St John's Lane. The location's use for this purpose after the building itself had been demolished, until the early 19th century when Charing Cross (the statue of Charles I) began to be treated as the nominal centre of London, and the point from which all distances were measured.

Sources

• Temple, Philip, ed. (2008). "Hicks' Hall (demolished)". Survey of London: South and East Clerkenwell. Survey of London. Vol. 46. London: Yale University Press. pp. 206–209. ISBN 9780300137279.

• Dictionary of National Biography
• Samuel Pepys' diary, 6 December 1660