Laura Norder

by Esmerelda Weatherwax (December 2012)

Laura Norder.

Or law and order. Not to be confused with an antique shop I once saw called Junk and Disorderly.

Pub signs with a legal system theme.

The places.

The Courthouse in Dartford, a listed 19^th century building, used to be the towns County Court, until the Lord Chancellor’s Department sold it to Youngs Brewery in 2000. The new court is a modern building attached to Waitrose supermarket. 

The City Arms in Wells was once the local lock up, later an abattoir, now a pub with a reputation for food.

Serjeants, formerly the Clachan (I knew it well…) used to be a pub in Mitre Court near Serjeants Inn one of the oldest Inns of Court which accommodated the Serjeants at Law. They were a type of barrister, defunct many years (about 100) before I worked in the area. It’s all barrister’s chambers in that building now.

The Miscreants

The Shepherd, Kelvedon Hatch Essex. There is nothing on the local history website to say what the Highwayman connection to the pub was, but there were many active in Essex on the roads approaching London.

Sixteen String Jack, Theydon Bois Essex

Another Highwayman but not an Essex man. John Rann was born in Bath in 1750 (Shepton Mallet is not far from Bath, but Dick Turpin was dead long before his birth) and started as a pickpocket in London before holding up coaches on the Hounslow Road in west London. His ploy was to dress shabbily on the road, then if caught appear at his trial dressed as a dandy, including 16 bright ribbons to tie his breeches. Hence the name. He looked so different witnesses were unable to identify him beyond reasonable doubt. Eventually he was convicted. The night before his execution at Tyburn on 30^th November 1774 he entertained 7 women to dinner, dressed in a pea green suit then danced a jig on the scaffold.

Captain Kidd, Wapping

The Lawyers

Jeremy Bentham W1

Judge Tindals, Chelmsford; Lord Denman, Dagenham

The Punishments

The Old Justice, Bermondsey. This side shows the punishment of the stocks, examples of which can still be seen on many English village greens. They are a staple of British comedy in an olde worlde setting but in practice I believe they could be quite unpleasant.

The Strugglers Inn, Lincoln

The Civil Law.

The Magna Carta, Lincoln. Just outside Lincoln Cathedral where a copy of Magna Carta is held. The importance of Magna Carta does not need to be spelled out here.

The Case is Altered, Bentley, Suffolk.

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