Shire Hall, Dorchester

There has been a shire hall in Dorchester since at least the 1630s, but by 1769 the old structure had fallen into disrepair. The replacement, designed by the architect Thomas Hardwick, was built between 1796 and 1797; while the work went on, the county's court business was conducted at the Antelope Hotel — the same building whose Oak Room had hosted Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes on 5 September 1685, in the aftermath of the Monmouth Rebellion.

The hall's most famous case came in 1834. Six Dorset agricultural labourers, members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers they had formed to bargain for better wages, were arrested for swearing a secret oath. The society's rules show it was plainly structured as a friendly society, operating as a trade-specific benefit society. On 18 March 1834 the men we now call the Tolpuddle Martyrs were sentenced to penal transportation to Australia. The public response was extraordinary: a petition of 800,000 signatures and a demonstration 100,000 strong in London. All six were pardoned in March 1836, on condition of good conduct, with the support of Lord John Russell, who had recently become home secretary. A plaque on the front of the building marks 150 years since the trial.

Thomas Hardy sat here too, as Justice of the Peace for the Borough of Dorchester from 1884, appearing in court on almost forty occasions up to 1919 — experience that fed directly into his writing. After the Local Government Act 1888 the hall also became the meeting place of Dorset County Council, and it continued in its original capacity until 1955, when a new county hall and crown court opened. Grade I listed since 1950, it was restored with £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and a further £1.1m from West Dorset District Council, opening as the Shire Hall Historic Courthouse Museum on 1 May 2018. The Duke of Gloucester unveiled an anniversary plaque in May 2019. The museum closed on 8 October 2026, its trustees citing challenging economic conditions and the rising costs of managing the building.

Shire Hall closed as a museum on 8 October 2026, so the day-to-day public access offered between 2018 and 2026 is no longer available. Organised public ghost hunts are, however, held at the venue, and for most visitors these evening events are now the practical way of getting inside. Book ahead, and check the organiser's details and timings before travelling.

If you can only see the building from the outside, the plaque on the front commemorating 150 years since the Tolpuddle Martyrs' trial is worth a few minutes of anyone's time.