According to Kelly’s
Directory, when the Institute was opened in 1906, a Petty Sessional Division of
Pontypool Magistrates Court was established on site, and sessions were held
fortnightly on Tuesdays. The Court room
was situated where the Red Ash Cafe is today, with the witness box just in
front of the existing service counter.
The first room on the right
as you enter the building was used as the Waiting Room
for the Magistrates’ Court. Barristers and solicitors could meet their
clients there and witnesses were required to wait there before being called to
give evidence. Over the years, I should imagine many people
spent nervous hours in this room awaiting decisions made within the court.
Again, according to Kelly’s
Directory, in 1914, Llanhilleth, along with several other communities came
under the jurisdiction of the County Court at Pontypool Town Hall, with His
Honor S. Hill Kelly, as Judge.
A document from 1928 shows
the Petty Sessional Court was still held at the Institute on alternate Tuesdays
and was charged £50 per year for their use of the building.
 |
| Clock position in the apex of the facade |
The clock in the Institute
soon gave rise to a local euphemism. “Under
the clock,” was used in the village for many years as a euphemism for going to
court. “He’ll be under the clock in
the morning,” would explain clearly where ‘he’ would be going.
“Back in the day,” I was
told a young man was, charged that his dog had been worrying sheep on the
mountainside. He was required to
attend court and give his account of the charge. Fortunately it was proved that he didn’t own
a dog, so was discharged with a clean record.
A husband and wife living in
Soffryd, date not provided, had an unpleasant experience. The wife awoke to hear an intruder in the
house. She found him half-way up the
stairs, and very bravely pushed him back downstairs and out of the house. The husband later attended court at the
Institute to give evidence against the intruder.
---oo0oo---
In 1959 two young lads, aged
17 were riding a motorcycle heading towards Hafodyrynys. At the bottom of the hill they were stopped
by a policeman. When requested to
provide his licence, the driver removed his ‘L’ plates from his pocket. The pillion rider had been riding with his
guitar slung across his back (almost a permanent fixture at that time). The conversation that followed was recorded
by the policeman in his notebook, and later used as evidence when they appeared
in Court. The lads had hoped Mr Richard
Rice JP would be presiding over their case.
He was well known as a kind and possibly lenient JP, but Mrs Bevan (the “dreaded
Mrs Bevan”) fined the pillion rider £4 for aiding and abetting the driver. I have no record of the fine for the
driver.
Mrs Bevan was quite
vociferous in her condemnation of them both, and amongst other names, labelled
them “road hogs.” Thankfully two elder brothers, both working, covered
the pillion rider’s £4 fine.
The lads were apparently
heading for The Star Inn on the
mountainside above Hafodyrynys as they were underage for legitimate drinking and were hoping to obtain
a glass of beer. I have no details of
how they returned home later that evening.
During the 1960s, a 16 year
old girl, working at Kibby’s at the bottom of Meadow Street, witnessed a crime
at Sofrydd village. She had never been
in court before, but the police requested she help with this case. Her mother, who accompanied her to the court
at the Institute, was not allowed into the proceedings and had to remain in the
Magistrates’ Court Waiting Room.
The young girl had to give
her witness statement without the support of anyone she knew in the room. It helped her immensely that the Justice, Mr
Richard Rice was her friend’s father. The
perpetrators of the crime were convicted due mainly to this young girl’s
statement, which enabled her later in life to justify the harrowing experience. (No counselling or support for victims in those days.)
---oo0oo---
A local resident was sworn
in as a Magistrate in 1967. By that
time the Magistrates’ Court was based in rooms beneath the Central Hotel in
Llanhilleth. In her nineties when we
spoke, she remembered her associate magistrates including Richard Rice and
Idris Pope, but could not identify the date the court moved from the Institute. A letter to the Local Clerk to the Court also
produced no information.
