Court hearings

THE CLOSURE of the magistrates’ court in Bourne last week marks the end of more than four centuries of dispensing justice in this town.

During that time, there has been a building in the market place serving as a town hall which was also used for the hearing of criminal cases and alleged infringements of the law, through meetings of the various manorial courts that controlled land and property and settled grievances, and at the petty and quarter sessions which were held at regular intervals under the jurisdiction of a bench of magistrates or justices of the peace.

The earliest recorded reference to a town hall is in 1586 and was mentioned by the historian William Camden (1551-1623) in Britannia, his survey of the British Isles, indicating that it was built by the Wake family and rebuilt by William Cecil, famous statesman to Elizabeth I who was born at a house nearby (now the Burghley Arms) because his family's coat of arms was carved in basso-relief over the centre of the east front.

But by the early 19th century it had become dilapidated and a new town hall was built by the architect Bryan Browning (1773-1856) at a cost of £2,500. It opened in 1821 and was soon in frequent use, not only as a courthouse but for many other varied events although it appears that permission to hold these was frequently given by individual magistrates without resorting to any other authority. Damage had been caused during functions on some occasions and on 3rd January 1842, the justices met under the chairmanship of William Augustus Johnson to regularise the position by passing new regulations for the use of the premises which formed the basis of today's licensing system.

The busiest time for the courts was in the 19th century when crimes and misdemeanours kept the magistrates busy with hearings at least once a week for the police courts or petty sessions and the quarter sessions being held for the more serious crimes and heavier sentencing once every three months. Justice during this period was swift and punishment severe with imprisonment and even deportation for what would be regarded today as minor offences. In 1811, for instance, the magistrates sent an unmarried girl, Elizabeth Whitfield, of Stainfield, to the House of Correction at Folkingham for one year for having an illegitimate child, her third within five years, and leaving them to be looked after by the parish.

A sixteen-year-old servant girl, Priscilla Woodward, came before the court in 1832 accused of setting fire to a haystack belonging to her master, farmer Isaac Teesdale, of Haconby, and although the magistrates were told that she was backward and ignorant and unable to read or write, she was sentenced to be deported to Australia. Other deportations included Augustine Chamberlain, aged 23, a labourer, who was accused in 1825 of stealing 24 chickens and ducks, the property of John Wilson, of Grimsthorpe, who was sentenced to be transported for seven years and was sent to Bermuda, and Sarah Marvin, aged 15, also a servant girl, who was found guilty in 1836 of stealing five bed sheets from Elizabeth Seward, of Dyke, and was transported to Tasmania for seven years.

In 1854, William Henry Marshall was accused of breaking into the dwelling house of William Elfleet, a farmer, of Eastgate, and stealing bacon, ham, liquor and two sovereigns and sent to jail for four months and in 1879, Frederick Rouse was sentenced to three months after being found guilty of stealing gin, wine and food from the North Street grocery shop where he worked.

Cases of drunkenness were a regular occurrence and in 1888, the chairman of the bench, the Rev George Carter, Rector of Folkingham, told a sitting of the magistrates on Thursday 27th September that 11 out of the 16 police cases that had been heard that day were directly due to drink and that if it were not for that, the justices of Bourne would have very little or nothing to do. However, figures produced to the court revealed that during the previous three years, convictions for drunkenness were declining, from 223 in 1885 to 159 in 1886 and 127 in 1887 and so it was believed that the punishments being meted out were having an effect.

Those who have sat as magistrates for Bourne include many prominent people from our past history who were also actively involved in other spheres of civic, religious and charitable work. Among those who served with distinction on the bench and also became chairmen were William Wherry (1841-1915), whose family firm survives to this day, Thomas Mays (1856-1934), father of Raymond Mays, the motor racing pioneer, and Robert Gardner (1850-1926), bank manager and talented artist whose paintings were exhibited by the Royal Academy.

There has been little change to the town hall since it was built in 1821 although the interior was modernised in 1974-75, so reducing the size of the courtroom but the general layout remained with a public gallery for anyone who wished to watch the proceedings and an adjoining committee room or library where the magistrates adjourned to consider their decisions. Further improvement work was carried out in 2004 as part of an overall refurbishment. In recent years there have been fewer cases than in the past although in 2001, the magistrates sat for a total of 330 hours adjudicating on adult and youth crime, fine enforcement and family matters.

The town hall is now owned by Lincolnshire County Council but administered by the Lincolnshire Magistrates Courts Committee and it has decided to phase out sittings from April 1 as part of a reorganisation of the justice system. In future, cases will be heard at Spalding, Grantham and elsewhere in the county. But the historic town hall remains, its walls echoing with the pleas of past offenders, and although no longer the seat of justice for Bourne, certainly as the centre of the town and community.