Shire Hall

Southeast Wales


Fronting Agincourt Sq at the north end of Monnow St, this handsome Georgian building was built in 1724 to house sittings of the assizes court. It was here that three of the leaders of the pro-democracy Chartist movement were sentenced to death for their part in the Newport Rising. You can visit the historic courtroom upstairs and then head down to the holding cells below. There's also a small archaeological display on the ground floor, behind the tourist information desk.

In front of the building is a statue of former Monmouth resident Charles Stewart Rolls (1877–1910), one half of the team that founded Rolls-Royce. Not only a pioneering motorist and aviator, he was the first British citizen to die in an air accident. He's depicted clutching a model of the Wright biplane in which he died.


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