Chichester Guildhall

The 13th-century Chichester Guildhall

Despite its name, the Chichester Guildhall is not a guildhall, but the last remains above ground of a 13th-century Franciscan friary. After the friary was suppressed by Henry VIII, the chancel of the former friary church was used as a courthouse. It is now used primarily as a wedding venue and is listed Grade I by English Heritage for its heritage value.

History

The story of Chichester's Guildhall begins, not with the friary, but two centuries earlier, when Roger de Montgomery, a Norman lord and the 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, erected a motte and bailey castle (known as Chichester Castle) in the north-east corner of Chichester, where Priory Park now stands. The only visible reminder of the Norman castle is the motte, rising above the level ground of the park and now topped with trees.

Ownership of the castle site was disputed by the Crown and the Earl of Sussex. In 1221 the Earl granted the castle to Chichester Cathedral but King Henry III objected and forced the cathedral's Dean and Chapter to surrender the castle into royal hands.

In 1222 the king granted the castle to his brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans. Earl Richard then gave the property to the Franciscan order, who had only very recently become established in England.

The Guildhall from the south

The Franciscans were popularly known as the Grey Friars after the grey colour of their robes.

The Franciscan order had premises a short distance south of Priory Park, where St Mary's Hospital now stands, but sometime around 1269 they moved to the castle site and built a new friary complex, with a range of buildings including a guest house, library, frater, brewery, and parlour arranged around a cloister, with the friary church standing on the south side of the cloister.

The first written record of the Guildhall comes in 1283.

Greyfriars Friary was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1538 as part of his Dissolution of the Monasteries and most of the monastic buildings were pulled down, leaving only the chancel of the friary church standing. In 1541 the king sold the remains of the church to the City Corporation of Chichester and the city used the chancel as the city Guildhall, or council chambers.

The rest of the friary site was leased, and a dwelling house built from the monastic ruins. The house was later used by William Waller, a Parliamentary leader during the English Civil War.

In 1824 the Duke of Richmond bought the freehold of Priory Park and had the house torn down.

The Guildhall was used not only by the city council but as a courthouse for City Quarter Sessions. These court sessions dealt with serious crimes that did not carry the penalty of death. On the occasions when the Quarter Sessions were held in Chichester, they were also held at the Guildhall.

The Guildhall from the south-west

Trial of the Hawkhurst Gang

On rare occasions the Assizes were held at the Guildhall. One of the most important of these Assizes occurred in 1748 when members of the infamous smugglers' gang known as the Hawkhurst Gang were tried for the murders of an informant, Daniel Charter, and a customs officer, William Galley. Chichester was selected as the site of the Hawkhurst Gang's trial simply because it was the nearest town to the place where the murders took place.

In a trial that lasted three days, all of the Hawkhurst Gang members were found guilty of murder and were sentenced to death. They were hanged at Broyle Heath, near Chichester's North Gate, after which their corpses were put on display at various points throughout the county as a warning to others.

You can learn more about the trial of the Hawkhurst Gang at the Novium Museum in the city centre.

William Blake's Trial

In 1804 the poet and artist William Blake was accused of sedition and brought before the County Quarter Session in the Chichester Guildhall.

Blake was living at the time in Felpham, now swallowed up by the sprawl of Bognor Regis but then a coastal village. It was while living at Felpham that Blake composed arguably his most famous poem, 'Jerusalem'.

In August 1803, Blake fell into an argument with a soldier named John Scolfield, in the course of which he supposedly shouted cursed the king and his soldiers. This was enough to bring charges against him for the crime of sedition, based on testimony that Blake vowed to be 'a Fabricated Perjury'.

The official transcript of the charges against Blake accuse him of speaking the following:

'The English know within themselves that Buonaparte could take possession of England in an hour's time, and then it would be put to every Englishman's choice for to either fight for the French or to have his throat cut. I think that I am as strong a man as most, and it shall be throat cut for throat cut, and the strongest man will be the conqueror. You will not fight against the French. Damn the King and Country and all his subjects. I have told this before to greater people than you. Damn the King and his Country; his subjects and all you soldiers are sold for slaves.'

His trial took place at the Chichester Guildhall in January 1804 and he was acquitted of all charges.

Reports of the trial suggest that the evidence against Blake was thought to be fabricated and the charges were quickly dropped. Blake seems to have had his fill of Sussex life in the wake of the trial and shortly thereafter he moved back to London and never returned.

The Guildhall ceased being a courthouse in 1850 and was turned over to the Sussex Rifle Volunteers as a drill hall and armoury store. Then in 1947 it was transformed into the city museum, the forerunner of what is now the Novium Museum. From 2009 it has been an events venue, with a license to hold weddings granted in 2015.

The east window

What to See

The Guildhall is an aisleless building measuring 82 x 31 feet (25m x 9.4m) under a roof that rises 42 feet (13m) from ground level. The chancel arch spans the entire width of the building. There are five symmetrically spaced Gothic windows in the south wall, with buttresses between the window openings. The huge 13th-century east window is made to a five-light design.

Set into the north wall of the building are two blocked doorways. These doorways originally gave access to the friar's cloister.

Visiting

The Guildhall stands in Priory Park, off Priory Road, a short walk from the city centre. The exterior can be visited during daylight hours, but the interior can only be viewed during scheduled open days throughout the year. Check the official website for dates.

A stone's throw from the Guildhall and also in Priory Park is the 11th-century motte of Chichester Castle.