Snaresbrook Crown Court

An etching of the Infant Orphan Asylum made in 1851

The Wanstead Infant Orphan Asylum was founded by the philanthropist Andrew Reed in 1827 and was based in Hackney. In the 1830s, and owing to a lack of space in the current building, Reed applied to the Crown Estate for a section of land in Snaresbrook, which was then part of Wanstead Forest, and a grant to help fund the building of a new premises. The application was successful and construction started on 27 June 1841. Between 1835 and 1844 George Gilbert Scott and William Bonython Moffatt were in partnership and were prolific designers of workhouses and hospitals and churches.[1] They were chosen to design the orphanage; the foundation stone was laid by Albert, Prince Consort in 1841.[2] The Infant Orphanage Asylum was officially opened on 27 June 1843 by Leopold I of Belgium.[3] It is designed in the Jacobean gothic style[4] and cost £35,000 to construct.[2]

The 1881 census recorded there being 74 staff and over 400 children at the institution.[5] King George V, who was the patron of Reed's charity, renamed the asylum the Royal Infant Orphanage in 1919.[2] The charity's eligibility criteria required that children had to be either fatherless or entirely orphaned;[6] under the age of seven;[7] and that their late fathers would have to have been considered by the trustees to be either "creditable" (not earning less than £50 a year upon their death), "respectable" (£100 a year), or "very respectable" (£400 a year).[3] In exceptional circumstances, the institution accepted children whose fathers were still alive but "subject to confirmed lunacy or paralysis", according to a reporter for the Derbyshire Courier. Once admitted the institution would house and look after the children up to the age of 15. The youngest recorded child to reside at the orphanage was a six-month-old girl in 1849.[8] An infirmary was added to the orphanage in the 1850s, followed by an assembly hall in 1862 and a swimming pool in 1880.[4] By 1860 there were 595 fatherless children housed at the orphanage.[9] In 1919 King George V renamed the premises to the Royal Infant Orphanage.[4]

In 1939 the building became the Royal Wanstead School, after a request from King George VI[4] and Prince George, Duke of Kent became its patron.[10] As well as a refuge for orphans, it also allowed children from impoverished families to join its register. These inductions were brief and stopped altogether in 1942 owing to the introduction of the welfare state, which allowed poor families to live together.[3] During the Second World War, Winston Churchill arranged the evacuation of the school's children to neighbouring boroughs and the building was occupied by British troops and held Italian prisoners of war. The south west corner of the building sustained some bomb damage during the conflict and was rebuilt in 1948.[4] The school received grammar school status in the years after the establishment of the Education Act in 1944 and then became a secondary modern;[4] it was funded by the Local Education Authority. By the late 1960s the school was experiencing a decline in pupil admissions which resulted in financial difficulties. It closed in 1971[2][11] and the Royal National Children's Foundation became established as a result.[12]

The modern day courthouse

On Christmas Day 1971[13] the building came into the ownership of the Department of the Environment.[3] A report carried out by the Royal Commission on Assizes and Court of quarter sessions, chaired by Lord Beeching, identified the need for a higher court than a magistrates to deal with indictable offences. It was to be called a crown court and its purpose was detailed in the Courts Act 1971. The school was identified as being a suitable venue and it was leased by the Department of the Environment for works to begin on its conversion to a court in 1973, at a cost of £1.6m.[4] Internally, the building's chapel and North Wing are the only two areas to remain in their original states, together with the exterior.[3]

The renovations established six new crown court rooms which were intended to serve North East London. Building work was completed in 1974 and was opened on 26 November 1974 by Lord Widgery, who was, at that time, Lord Chief Justice.[4] Further improvements were made to the site between 1976 and 1979, but in November 1981 a fire destroyed three courtrooms and damaged two others. Renovations were made, and by 1988, five more court rooms, including a separate annex, built to a cost of £3 million, had been added, bringing the total to 20. The court manages around 7,000 cases a year, making it the busiest Crown Court in the United Kingdom.[3] The building received Grade II listed status on 11 November 1968.[4]