Two new blue plaques have been installed in Knutsford town centre, highlighting the town’s historic role as a major hub for county justice over the past 500 years.
A blue plaque on Café Nero highlights the site of the original home of justice in Knutsford. It was on this site that a building which was used as a court room stood until 1818, when the new courthouse was built. This blue plaque replaces a long-removed slate plaque which was affixed to the building some decades ago.
Quarter Sessions were held in Knutsford from 1575, and from 1760 it was one of just two places where this level of justice was dealt in the county. Quarter Sessions were an intermediate tier of justice between lower magistrates courts and higher assize courts. Justices were empowered to enforce national political, administrative and religious policy, the criminal law (including committal proceedings to the Assize courts), taxation, rating, the poor law, maintenance of gaols, roads and bridges, regulation of wages, prices and alehouses and the hearing of petitions. Courts were held four times a year – Epiphany (January), Easter, Midsummer and Michaelmas (Autumn). In Knutsford the Quarter Sessions moved in 1818 to the new Sessions House on Toft Road. The Quarter Sessions were replaced by Crown Courts in 1971.
The second plaque was installed on Booths, which was the site of Knutsford House of Correction. The gaol was built in 1820 alongside the new court building and housed up to 700 prisoners. The prison was demolished around 1935 and in the 1980s Booths supermarket was built on the site. Local historian Jenny Collis proposed the blue plaque to highlight the town’s judicial history following her sell-out talks on the prison in 2025. The location of the plaque was chosen to give a sense of the scale of the site.
Town Mayor Cllr Peter Coan said “For almost half a millennium Knutsford was a major centre for justice in Cheshire. Whilst these two buildings no longer remain, the blue plaques highlight what once stood on these sites and help passersby connect with our town’s rich judicial heritage”
The Town Council would like to thank Booths supermarket, and the landlord of Café Nero fo their permission to install the two new blue plaques.