National Justice Museum

The earliest confirmed official use of the site was by the Normans, who appointed sheriffs to keep the peace and collect taxes; it was variously called the Sheriff's Hall, the County Hall and the King's Hall. The first written record of a law court on the site dates from 1375, and the first written reference to a prison from 1449. In 1724 the courtroom floor gave way during a hearing: the Nottingham Courant reported that people fell some three yards into the cellar beneath, that a man named Fillingham was badly hurt, and that the frightened judge cried out "A plot! A plot!" before the court resumed its business. The hall was rebuilt between 1769 and 1772 to designs by James Gandon of London, built by Joseph Pickford of Derby at a cost of around £2,500, its inscription still recording its erection in 1770, in the tenth year of George III's reign.

The nineteenth century brought wings, courts and committee rooms: alterations to the nisi prius court in 1833, judges' and barristers' rooms in 1844, a grand jury room in 1859 by Richard Charles Sutton. It also brought the gallows. Until 1832 most Nottingham hangings took place at Gallows Hill; from that year they transferred to the Shire Hall, where a scaffold was erected over the stone steps before the central doorway, within the enclosure formed by closing the iron gates. The last public execution here was in 1864, when Richard Thomas Parker was hanged. Public executions were abolished in 1868, and although most later hangings took place at the Borough Gaol, Thomas Gray was hanged in a yard at the rear of the Shire Hall on 21 November 1877. These were real people and real deaths, recorded by name.

In 1876 the frontage was remodelled in an Italianate style by William Bliss Sanders of Nottingham — and within weeks a fire nearly destroyed the new work. Thomas Chambers Hine largely rebuilt the courts between 1876 and 1879; the gaol closed in 1878. After 1888 the building served as the meeting place of Nottinghamshire County Council, a police station was built adjacent in 1905, and after the County Council moved to County Hall in 1954 the Shire Hall remained the home of Nottingham's civil and criminal courts until 1991, when Nottingham Crown Court opened on Canal Street. The Galleries of Justice Museum opened here in 1995 and was refurbished and rebranded as the National Justice Museum in 2017.

The museum's documented history is one of trials, imprisonment and executions rather than hauntings, and there are no recorded sightings here that we can pass on with any confidence. We would rather leave this section short than invent one.

The National Justice Museum stands on High Pavement in the Lace Market area of Nottingham. Inside you will find two courtrooms, an underground jail and the site used for executions, along with the Crime Gallery, which combines interactive exhibits and family activities with displays on crime and punishment — including the dock from Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

Organised public ghost hunts are also held at the venue by event companies. These run as booked events, so check availability and reserve in advance. However you come, it is worth remembering that this is a registered charity caring for a Grade II* listed building — and a place where real lives ended. Visit it with curiosity, and with respect.