The Secondary of London
the office that runs the Old Bailey, and why the City is the only council with a Crown Court of its own
The Central Criminal Court is universally called the Old Bailey and is run, unusually, by a local authority. The City of London Corporation owns the building, maintains it and pays for it, which makes it the only council in England and Wales that owns and operates a Crown Court. The official who administers it holds one of the oldest surviving titles in English local government: the Secondary and Under-Sheriff of London.
What the office is
The Secondary of London is the City's senior officer for the courts and the sheriffs, and in practice the administrator of the Old Bailey: the building, its staff, its listing arrangements and the ceremonial that attaches to a court where two sheriffs are in residence. The role combines a medieval title with the job of running a large modern institution.
The title itself dates from a period when the Sheriff of London had deputies ranked primary and secondary. The Primary disappeared; the Secondary did not. Charles Henty held the office in the 2010s, and the post continues.
Around three hundred people work in the building on a normal day. The City employs a large part of that number directly, with His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, the probation service, prosecuting counsel and the police making up the rest.
Why the City runs its own court
Because it always has, and no reform removed the arrangement. The Corporation's responsibility for criminal justice in the square mile predates the county courts and the modern Crown Court system, and when those were created the City's position was preserved, not absorbed. The present building of 1907 stands on the site of Newgate Prison, which the City also ran.
The practical consequence is that the most famous criminal court in the country is maintained out of a local authority's budget, and its senior administrator is a council officer, not a civil servant.
The entries
The Central Criminal Court
Old Bailey EC4 Nearest station: St Paul's
Opened in 1907 on the site of Newgate Prison, designed by E. W. Mountford, and Grade II* listed. The Corporation of London built it and still maintains it. The motto cut over the main entrance reads: defend the children of the poor and punish the wrongdoer.
The gilded figure of Justice
Old Bailey EC4 Nearest station: St Paul's
Twelve feet of bronze on the dome, gilded, holding a sword and scales and, contrary to the most repeated claim about her, not blindfolded. The sculptor was F. W. Pomeroy. Anyone told that Justice at the Old Bailey wears a blindfold has been told something that a look upward disproves.
Newgate, underneath
Newgate Street EC1 Nearest station: St Paul's
The prison stood on this site from the twelfth century until 1902 and public executions were held outside it from 1783, when they moved here from Tyburn, until 1868. Fragments of its wall survive nearby and a stretch of the old street frontage is still traceable.
Questions
What does the Secondary of London actually do?
Administers the Central Criminal Court on behalf of the City of London Corporation, and acts as Under-Sheriff to the two sheriffs who are in residence at the Old Bailey during their year of office. It is a senior local-government post with a medieval title attached, closer to running an institution than to any judicial function.
Why does the City of London own a Crown Court?
Historical continuity rather than design. The Corporation's role in criminal justice in the square mile long predates the modern court system, and successive reforms preserved it. It is the only local authority in England and Wales that owns and runs a Crown Court, and it funds the building out of its own budget.
Is the statue of Justice blindfolded?
No, and this is the most persistently repeated error about the building. The gilded bronze figure on the dome holds a sword and a pair of scales and has open eyes. The sculptor's own explanation was that Justice is not blind. It is visible from Ludgate Hill on a clear day.
Can members of the public go in?
Public galleries are open when the court is sitting, subject to the court's own rules, which are strict: no phones, cameras, bags or food, and there is no cloakroom, so anything not allowed inside has to be left elsewhere. Times and restrictions change and are published by the court.
Elsewhere on this site: London oddities, guide to London statues.