Court of Requests, Georgetown CF48 1AY

Heritage Plaques

- Structures

Court of Requests,
Georgetown

CF48 1AY

In 1829 depression set in in the iron industry which was to last for three years. As a result Merthyr Tydfil Ironmasters made many workers redundant and cut the wages of those in work. Against a background of rising prices this caused severe hardship for many of the working people of the area and, in order to survive, many people were forced into debt. Often they were unable to pay off their debts and their creditors would then turn to the Court of Requests which had been set up in 1809 to allow the bailiffs to seize the property of debtors. As a result the Court was hated by many people who saw it as the reason for their losing their property.

Grade II Listed

Description
Exterior
Wide 2-storey and basement late Georgian N front, pebbledash with band course and plain margins. Modern pantile roof, hipped to road end, two large stone stacks with moulded cornices. Assorted 12-pane sash windows (boarded); small boarded door to No 9a up steps. Lower extension (former stable, now roofless) attached at far end. Two-window rubble gable-end to road with first-floor cantilevered bay windows and shop window to left of doorway. Altered S front with 4 assorted windows, plain margins, glazing and doors replaced; brick-walled forecourt.

Interior
Interiors retain plan-form of separate service end to W and family end to E with ground-floor communication only. Good Regency detailing includes exceptional architraves (treated as pilasters) with paterae; moulded cornices; segmental, pilastered sideboard recesses etc. Stone-vaulted cellars (divided for prison use) reached by stone stairs, flagged floors, bed platforms etc.