Judges Lodges, Herefordshire

It started with Murder…

A murder in Rhayader of a judge in the 1530s was to change the life of the tiny border town of Presteigne forever. Rhayader, chosen as the venue for the Court of King’s Great Sessions, was obviously not a safe enough place for eminent men to stay and in 1542 Presteigne was chosen as an alternative. Its life as the legal seat of Radnorshire was set for more than 400 years and with it the development of Presteigne into Radnorshire’s County town.

By 1825 the Shire Hall had falling into disrepair (so much so that in 1828 a contractor was used to prop up the Shire Hall for a parliamentary election) that the magistrates advertised for tenders build a new Shire Hall on the site of the old goal. Work started in 1826 and was declared finished in 1829.

The building was in use until the…