History - Court for Hire

History Timeline

1828 - Ralph Peters purchases land at the North end of Lord Street, Southport and builds View Lodge.
1838-47 - Ralph Peters and his wife die and the house is put up for sale.
1851 - New owner John Hargreaves renames the property 'Sea View House'.
1860-66 - Resident owner Letita Knowles renames the property 'Woodlands' due to trees obscuring the sea view.
1908-14 - The property is listed as empty but owned by John Hargreaves, who owned most of Lord Street and Leyland Arcade. The house was needed for a convalescence home for WW1 soldiers.
1915-19 - The building became St John's VAD Hospital and was named 'The Woodlands'.
1920-25 - The building became Southport Municiple School for Boys, later known as KGV.
1935 - A competition was announced for the contracts of building the court with the winner announced in 1936.
1940 - First day as a magistrates Court.
2011 - The court was closed.
2011-12 - Temporary home of the Fire Brigade whilst Balfour Beatty demolished and rebuilt the fire station.
2013 - Building purchased by Access Point.
2014 - Renovations complete and Access Point move into the renamed building 'The Old Courthouse'.

Tales of the Courthouse

Whether it be infamous trials or memorable moments, if the walls of North Sefton Magistrates’ Court could talk, they would certainly have a lot to say. Although this quiet pocket of Lancashire may not have been home to notorious crimes, it has been at the location of a couple of notable cases.

An early case tried within its confines was in 1947. Robert George Clement a physician and fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons from Belfast, NI, was charged with the poisoning of his fourth wife, who died from morphine poisoning.