ONE of Monmouthshire's historic buildings has been formally opened after a decade long restoration.

The Sessions House at Usk was originally designed by Thomas Wyatt and opened in 1877 by Samuel Bosanquet, the chairman of the Monmouthshire Quarter Sessions.

The building was used continuously until the last Magistrates court hearing in June 1995, when the building became vacant, unloved and almost derelict. Usk Town Council decided to save the premises as a millennium project in 2000 and buy it for use as its town hall. 

And after 12 years of building work the final phase of the restoration project was unveiled - the completed court room. Apart from the addition of electric lighting, the court is virtually unchanged since 1877.

Councillor Roger Galletley, chairman of the Sessions House project, told the gathering of Usk town councillors, civic dignitaries and local business people at the opening ceremony that it had been a long 12 years.

He added: "When we bought the building for £90,000 it was less the salubrious than it is now. We had a leaking roof, rotten windows and failing brickwork.

"With the help of a £90,000 National Lottery grant we are able to bring the whole building back to life and on the outside we've revealed the true colour of the bath stone."

Local people also raised some £100,000 and an additional £5,000 was obtained from the local authority for the repairs to the roof and exterior walls.

The group are still looking for additional funding for the final phase.

Once the building was watertight, the restoration group set about retrieving the Mather-Jackson Library from county archives to return it back to its original home.

The mainly Victorian law library comprises of almost 3000 volumes of law reports, statutes and commentaries dating from 1698 to 1971. It includes many local and personal Acts which have a particular interest from a social history viewpoint.

The renovated historic building, however is not completely as it was when it was built, as court room one was gutted by fire in 1944 and never rebuilt.

But Councillor Galletley believes that the remaining refurbished courtroom 2 is unique, adding: "It is the only truly authentic Victorian court room left in Britain."

Councillor Galletley also told how difficult it was to remove modern flooring tiles and revealed that equipment used in the Houses of Parliament was required to renovate the court room.

Today's courtroom table was similar to the original, as it had been used in the library. This table was reduced in size to fit the space. The dock, the Judge's chair and benches for the witnesses and jury, have also been restored, varnished and re-upholstered with horse hair.

The press bench, full of bored journalists' names and musings has also been restored.

Many important cases were heard at the Usk Quarter Sessions but among those that are worthy of mention include that of a prominent women's suffragette member Viscountess Rhondda and Josef Garcia who became notorious when he was convicted of the murder of a family of five in Llangybi.

The Sessions House operated as a magistrates court from 1974 until June 8, 1995.

The building has since been earning its keep as it has been used as the set for numerous film and television productions as well as a backdrop for a live production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury in the Court Room.

And today the Sessions House complex is not only home to Usk Town Council it survives by renting out the rooms as offices let on a commercial basis and provides facilities for meetings in either the Court Room or Library for local organisations.

The Sessions House now has a wedding licence with two booked already for this summer.