An old courthouse in one of the city's oldest suburbs offers a fascinating glimpse of what the justice system used to look like.
West Derby Village is steeped in history which dates back as far as 1086 when it was first mentioned in the Domesday Book. However, it was during the Victorian period that the village underwent a real transformation and was largely rebuilt by the 4th Earl of Sefton, William Philip Molyneux, whose family lived in Croxteth Hall for generations.
The Tudor courthouse in the centre of the village dates back more than 400 years to 1586, when it was built on the order of Elizabeth I and cost just £40 to construct. Back then, the courthouse was used to issue fines for offences like not attending church or keeping a pig without a ring in its nose. If you didn't pay the fine you could be put in the stocks for up to six hours.
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The Grade-II listed red sandstone structure was restored and conserved in 2005 at a cost of £110,000 - after it was included in the ECHO's Stop The Rot campaign - with funds coming from the city council's Buildings At Risk programme and English Heritage.
It is now the only free-standing post-medieval courthouse in Britain. Joint custodians of the courthouse are the city council and the West Derby Society. It is open to the public between 2pm and 4pm on most Sundays between April and October.
In a previous interview with the ECHO, West Derby Society chairman, Stephen Guy, said that in the years after it was built the courthouse functioned both as an administrative centre and as a court dealing with minor offences. Stephen said: “The hereditary stewards of the court where the Molyneux family who owned large areas of Liverpool."
From 1712, the family occupied the nearby Croxteth Hall, where a hunting lodge had previously stood.
Stephen said: “The main function of the courthouse was dealing with land issues but it was also used as a court for dealing with offences such as drunkenness, vagrancy, brawling, not attending church and keeping a pig without a ring through its nose. In those days everyone had to attend an Anglican service on a Sunday, even if they were Catholic and pig-rings were important for controlling the animals as an out-of-control pig could do a lot of damage.
“The court only had the power to issue fines. If you couldn’t pay the fine then you could be put in the stocks for up for six hours.”
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