Historic courtroom · County gaol · Reported hauntings
National Justice Museum
Lace Market · Nottingham · East Midlands
Arrested, tried, imprisoned and executed beneath one roof. Nottingham’s former Shire Hall preserves real courtrooms, cells, dungeons and gallows – alongside named accounts of dark figures, thrown stones and unexplained physical contact.
Photo: Roland Turner via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
The entire machinery of justice in one building
This is not a museum that merely collected prison objects. The Grade II* listed Shire Hall contains genuine courtrooms, centuries old cells, an exercise yard, execution spaces and an adjoining police station. Its five floors turn abstract crime and punishment into a physical journey from accusation to sentence.
At a glance
Visitor details checked 4 September 2026Courtroom, prison and place of execution
Every layer of the building served a different part of the justice system.
The earliest records
A court is documented on the site in 1375, while prison cells appear in records by 1449. The medieval buildings have changed, but the site remained associated with law and confinement for centuries.
That continuity matters more than claims that every surviving room is medieval.Execution as spectacle
Public hangings moved to the Shire Hall in 1832. Crowds gathered below High Pavement to watch sentences carried out on a scaffold outside the building.
The last public execution here was Richard Thomas Parker in 1864.From gaol to museum
The county gaol closed in 1878, but the courts remained active until 1991. The Galleries of Justice opened in 1995 and became the National Justice Museum in 2017.
The adjoining police station adds arrest and detention to the site’s story.Richard Thomas Parker and a crowd of thousands
Richard Thomas Parker was convicted of murdering his mother, Elizabeth, after shooting both parents during a violent family confrontation. His father survived. Parker was sentenced at the Shire Hall in July 1864.
A crowd reported at around 12,000 gathered outside to watch his execution. It was Nottingham’s final public hanging at the building. The scale of the audience is a reminder that punishment here was not hidden from society – it was staged before it.
Thomas Gray was later executed privately in the prison yard in 1877. Other later Nottingham executions belonged to different institutions and should not be silently transferred to the Shire Hall.
Sam, the dark cells and a flying vacuum cleaner
The reports are unusually well recorded for a visitor attraction, but named testimony is still testimony rather than proof.
Figures in the building
A former caretaker spoke of a grey haired figure called Sam and a young man apparently writing on an exercise yard wall. Cleaners and staff have also reported a Victorian man, an older woman and a soldier near the entrance.
Pulling and scratches
Former guide Claire Finn described a visitor whose arm felt pulled and another who displayed scratches after entering the dark cells. Museum employee Lauren Williams later gave a named account of her ponytail being sharply tugged while alone.
Knocks and thrown objects
Reports include responsive knocks, cries and groans in the courtrooms, plus gravel apparently thrown in underground areas. Staff folklore even includes a levitating Henry Hoover – memorable, certainly; independently verified, absolutely not.
Follow the path from trial to punishment
Daily performances are included with admission, but timings vary. Ask reception when you arrive so you do not miss the courtroom trial or execution interpretation.
A useful first visit
Use the original spaces in sequence rather than racing for whichever room has the most ghost stories.
Take your place in court
Begin with the Victorian courtroom and live trial performance. It establishes how accusation, evidence and sentence were presented before you enter the cells below.
Descend into the gaol
Move through the cells, exercise yard and punishment spaces. Notice which areas are genuinely old, which were rebuilt and how confinement changes as you go underground.
Separate atmosphere from evidence
Compare the named accounts with the environment: dim light, confined rooms, uneven rock and theatrical interpretation. Decide what the building explains and what still bothers you.
Arrival, parking and facilities
The museum sits on High Pavement in Nottingham’s Lace Market. Lace Market tram stop is about two minutes away and Nottingham station is approximately a 10 – 15 minute walk. There is no on site parking.
Parking: Paid public parking nearby
On site: Café · toilets · gift shop · exhibitions
Dogs: Accredited assistance dogs only
Accessibility and sensory conditions
Enter through the courtyard for the step free route. A lift connects reception with the lower ground floor, and two accessible toilets are available. Some spaces remain stairs only.
Follow a historic haunting into Lincolnshire
For a very different kind of case, Epworth Old Rectory preserves one of Britain’s best recorded early poltergeist stories. Its distance from Nottingham makes it ideal for a dedicated Lincolnshire journey.
Epworth Old Rectory
Investigate the 1716 disturbances that plagued the Wesley family home, recorded in contemporary letters long before modern paranormal entertainment.
Explore Epworth Old Rectory →Enter the courtroom. Then find out what waited below.
The National Justice Museum does not need to pretend every creak is a prisoner returning from the dead. Its authentic courtrooms, cells and execution spaces already make it unsettling. The dark figures, physical contact and flying vacuum cleaner simply make the final verdict more complicated.