Historic court reopens for a day

Beaumaris court in Anglesey is a museum

One of the oldest courts in Wales or England, where Charles Dickens is reputed to have sat at the press bench, is reopening - but only for a day.

At the request of Wales's senior judge, Mr Justice Roderick Evans, two appeals will be heard at Beaumaris court in Anglesey, which is now a museum.

Built in 1614, it reopens as a court occasionally to preserve its status.

"The court has played an important part in the history of Anglesey and Wales," Mr Justice Evans said.

Punishments over the centuries ranged from hanging for murder to transportation to Australia or public flogging for petty thieves.

Charles Dickens is supposed to have visited the court in 1859 to report on the loss of the Royal Charter, one of Britain's worst shipwrecks, in which 400 people died.

When Mr Justice Evans, the senior presiding judge for Wales, sits at Beaumaris court, it will be elevated to a crown court for the day.

Judicial process

He said the court - which shut officially in 1997 - did not have the proper facilities to allow all types of cases to be heard there.

However he stressed that areas such as Anglesey and mid Wales, with fewer courts, should not be neglected.

As a museum, members of the public can visit Beaumaris and can have first hand experience of the judicial process.

They can stand in a dock, get to see how a court of law works and visit the prisoner's room.

They can also learn about the criminals who were punished at Beaumaris.

In 1742, some of the notorious wreckers of Crigyll near Rhosneigr who looted the ships they lured onto the rocks using beacons and lights, stood in the docks.

The gang was active for more than 30 years and it proved extremely difficult to convict them.