County Courthouse B, England

County Courthouse B was an abandoned court in England. An abandoned court is always a rare thing in England, so I very much enjoyed this location. We explored this location in the early hours of a cold morning, during the winter of 2017. Sometime in 2020 or 2021 it was renovated, and it now back in use as a business and also possible residential use in the future.

History of County Courthouse B

This courthouse was built in the 1860s. The impressive exterior is a Classical style, and built of stone. Sadly, almost all of the interior has been modernised over the years. One of the few original features inside is the cast iron balustrade on the stairs connected to the entrance hall.

There is a single courtroom inside County Courthouse B, which is rather plain in appearance. The nicest features are perhaps the arched windows at the top of the room. Thanks to these windows the courtroom is nice and bright. The rest of the building is mainly empty office and storage space, which was not too photogenic.

Closure of this old courthouse

County Courthouse B closed in the early 2010s. This was into response to country-wide changes in the English and Welsh court jurisdictions and system. Originally, these county courts had jurisdiction to enforce laws over their local district. Confusingly, the county court jurisdiction boundaries did not correspond to the county boundaries. This was mainly due to the complex evolution of British county boundaries over the centuries since the original county courts were established.

Since 2014, the old county courts of England and Wales have been united into a new single civil court system with national jurisdiction. In essence, the court system is now a single organised court system. However, there are still many court buildings across England and Wales but these are now centrally controlled and administered.