THE FORGOTTEN social history of Dorchester’s historic Shire Hall will be remembered in a special talk at the venue.

Dr Jo Cox, from Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, spent 20 years uncovering the social history of the building and in 1995 wrote the first of four reports on the Old Crown Court and Cells.

She will be speaking at the hall on Thursday, October 2 from 7pm.

Dr Cox said: “We’ve had the great good fortune to spend a long time looking at this building and we still don’t understand all of it, there’s so much to discover.

“It’s been a complete revelation.

“Rights that we regard as absolute foundation stones of British justice, such as the right to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, we have discovered are not as established as we think.

“The Tolpuddle Martyrs, who were tried and sentenced at Shire Hall, very much had the onus put on them to prove their innocence.”

Another interesting discovery by Dr Cox concerned the role that the assizes sessions at the court performed as social entertainment.

She said: “It was very theatrical. The prisoners came up from dark cells into the dock and stood facing the judge, who was sitting with a burst of light behind him looking down on them.

“There was a lot of banter and wisecracking between the Bench and the court, it was like a theatre in many respects.”

Dr Cox said the court’s presence was a major factor in Dorchester’s development as a county town.

She said: “You’d get this great string of legal people regularly turning up in Dorchester for the assizes and that generated a lot of the town’s economy.”

Dr Cox will be giving an illustrated presentation of her work in the former committee room, before moving to the Old Crown Court itself to talk about the room’s unique features.

Entry to the event is free, with donations welcome, and refreshments will be available.