The Judge’s Lodging

This Museum makes a trip to Presteigne worthwhile.

When the county town of Radnorshire was created by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542, the role of county town was to be shared by New Radnor and Rhayader. The county courts or ‘Great Sessions’ were to be held in both towns.

But when a judge was murdered in Rhayader on his first sitting in 1542, Parliament decided that Presteigne was the safer option.… far from the ‘wild west’ of the county.

Becoming the legal centre for the county caused Presteigne to develop as the county town for Radnorshire. It eventually lost the title in 1884 when Llandrindod grabbed it, but we still have the old court and judges lodgings preserved as a museum.

So here we have the Shire Hall opened in 1829 on the site of the former county gaol. Designed by Edward Haycock, a noted architect of his generation. He was the county surveyor of Shropshire, but did quite a few public buildings in Wales.

The buildings have been restored to how they would have been in the 1860’s – so High Victorian - and the restoration has been done to a very high standard.