- Joined
- Jan 6, 2013
- Messages
- 5,567
- Reaction score
- 11,194
1. The History
Located less than 1km to the south-west of Grantham town centre, the former office building on Harlaxton Road was repurposed as a magistrates' court following a successful Change of Use application in March 1992 and alterations the following year.
After functioning as a court for over thirty years, it closed its doors in 2016 as part of a UK-wide plan to close 86 courts in England and Wales. All cases were moved to either Lincoln or Boston. It had previously been reported by the Ministry of Justice that the court cost £237,000 to run during the previous year. Grantham solicitors weren’t so happy about the decision and voiced their “anger and sadness” about the decision.
The Government sold off the site in January for £560,000 to a private buyer in January 2017. It was then subsequently for sale for a cool £1.25m, it was withdrawn from market in June 2018. Plans for redevelopment of the site were submitted in August 2019 and accepted in December 2019. Hence the former magistrates’ court described as being of “limited architectural merit” is now in the midst of being demolished to make way for a £3.5 million new two-storey, 55 bedroom care home, creating employment of approximately 70 local people on a full-time and part-time basis.
The courts while still in use:
Courts by HughieDW, on Flickr
2. The Explore
Totally random opportunist explore. Think I’d vaguely clocked that this place was empty, but it didn’t really register. Was passing recently, having been to the cinema, and noticed that demolition on it had started. Fortunately, had my camera and torches so decided to go for a quick reccie. It was easy enough to get on-site and the demo meant that getting in the building was easy enough. Looking at old pictures its clear that a sizeable chunk (probably about half in total) to the right of the main door has already been knocked down. To be honest though, the bit that was formerly offices isn’t that interesting. It’s the extension from 1993 at the back to house the court itself and the holding cells which are the interesting bit. And given these were pretty much untouched, it made for a decent explore. So, an opportunist explore. This is and will probably be the last report on this place as the demo will most likely be complete within a week or so.
3. The Pictures
View from the street:
img5891 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The old signs:
Granny Courts 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 12 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5911 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And we’re in:
img5894 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5896 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5897 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The modern front part is pretty uninspiring:
img5893 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5898 by HughieDW, on Flickr
But Court No.1 is what we’re after:
img5899 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The defendant ‘cage’:
Granny Courts 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5901 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And then the holding cells for the accused:
Granny Courts 11 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5904 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The cells are pretty much one star:
img5902 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Pretty heft cell doors (note they’ve reclaimed the locks):
Granny Courts 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 10 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5907 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Finally, the visiting area. Inside:
img5910 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And outside:
img5909 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Located less than 1km to the south-west of Grantham town centre, the former office building on Harlaxton Road was repurposed as a magistrates' court following a successful Change of Use application in March 1992 and alterations the following year.
After functioning as a court for over thirty years, it closed its doors in 2016 as part of a UK-wide plan to close 86 courts in England and Wales. All cases were moved to either Lincoln or Boston. It had previously been reported by the Ministry of Justice that the court cost £237,000 to run during the previous year. Grantham solicitors weren’t so happy about the decision and voiced their “anger and sadness” about the decision.
The Government sold off the site in January for £560,000 to a private buyer in January 2017. It was then subsequently for sale for a cool £1.25m, it was withdrawn from market in June 2018. Plans for redevelopment of the site were submitted in August 2019 and accepted in December 2019. Hence the former magistrates’ court described as being of “limited architectural merit” is now in the midst of being demolished to make way for a £3.5 million new two-storey, 55 bedroom care home, creating employment of approximately 70 local people on a full-time and part-time basis.
The courts while still in use:
Courts by HughieDW, on Flickr
2. The Explore
Totally random opportunist explore. Think I’d vaguely clocked that this place was empty, but it didn’t really register. Was passing recently, having been to the cinema, and noticed that demolition on it had started. Fortunately, had my camera and torches so decided to go for a quick reccie. It was easy enough to get on-site and the demo meant that getting in the building was easy enough. Looking at old pictures its clear that a sizeable chunk (probably about half in total) to the right of the main door has already been knocked down. To be honest though, the bit that was formerly offices isn’t that interesting. It’s the extension from 1993 at the back to house the court itself and the holding cells which are the interesting bit. And given these were pretty much untouched, it made for a decent explore. So, an opportunist explore. This is and will probably be the last report on this place as the demo will most likely be complete within a week or so.
3. The Pictures
View from the street:
img5891 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The old signs:
Granny Courts 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 02 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 12 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5911 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And we’re in:
img5894 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5896 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5897 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The modern front part is pretty uninspiring:
img5893 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5898 by HughieDW, on Flickr
But Court No.1 is what we’re after:
img5899 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The defendant ‘cage’:
Granny Courts 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5901 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And then the holding cells for the accused:
Granny Courts 11 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5904 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The cells are pretty much one star:
img5902 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Pretty heft cell doors (note they’ve reclaimed the locks):
Granny Courts 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 10 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img5907 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Finally, the visiting area. Inside:
img5910 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Granny Courts 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And outside:
img5909 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Last edited: