| Pevensey Court House | |
| Coordinates: | 50.8201°N 0.3364°W |
| Location: | High Street, Pevensey |
| Built: | 1540 |
| Architecture: | Medieval style |
| Designation1: | Grade II Listed Building |
| Designation1 Offname: | The Court House and Wallby |
| Designation1 Date: | 30 August 1966 |
| Designation1 Number: | 1182588 |
Pevensey Court House, formerly known as Pevensey Town Hall,[1] [2] is a municipal building in the High Street, Pevensey, East Sussex, England. The structure, which currently accommodates a local history museum, is a Grade II listed building.
The current building, which was commissioned to replace a 14th-century court house,[3] was designed in the medieval style, built in rubble masonry and was completed in around 1540.[4] It was then extended, with the construction of a north facing wing and the installation of a porch at the top of the external staircase, in 1830. A cement render finish was added at that time as well.[5] [6] [7]
The design of the enlarged building involved a main block which was orientated east to west together with a north facing wing. It featured an external staircase on the eastern side leading up to a porch on the first floor. The building was fenestrated by a prominent oriel window on the first floor at the end of the north facing wing, and by a casement window on the right-hand side of the main block, also facing north. The north facing wing was gabled and the main block was covered by a hipped roof. Internally, the principal rooms were a lock-up for incarcerating petty criminals on the ground floor,[8] [9] and a courtroom, which was long and wide, as well as a robing room, on the first floor.[5]
The borough council, which had met in the council chamber, was abolished under the Municipal Corporations Act 1883,[10] and the assets of the borough, including the building, were transferred to the newly formed Pevensey Town Trust in 1890.[11] [12]
One of the last people to be incarcerated in the prison cells was Betty Breach, who was found guilty of assaulting her drunken husband in 1887: after local protests, the magistrate who had sentenced Breach, apologised and released her.[13] The building was used to imprison a captured German airman and was also used as a mortuary during the Second World War.[5]
The court house subsequently served as a museum.[5] Exhibits accessioned to the collection included the seals of the borough which dated to around 1230, the official weights and measures of the borough, and a replica of a scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the landing of William the Conqueror at Pevensey in 1066, which was hand-embroidered in the 1980s.[14]