Shire Hall, Bedford
The Shire Hall is a municipal building in Bedford, Bedfordshire. It is a Grade II listed building.History
The Shire Hall replaced an earlier sessions house for the county which had been built on the site in 1753. The new building, which was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in the Gothic revival style, was completed in 1881. It was originally used as a facility for dispensing justice but, following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1888, which established county councils in every county, it also became the meeting place for Bedfordshire County Council. It was extended to the designs of Charles Holden in 1910 and further augmented when the adjacent Cowper Building was acquired in 1938. After the County Council moved to County Hall, a larger and more modern complex, in 1969, the Shire Hall was used solely as the magistrates' court and as the county court.
