50 St John Street

▪ Grade II listed building dating to 1857

▪ St John’s Hall, at the back, used as a place of worship, and for lectures/meetings/events etc.

▪ County Court until 1961 and Magistrates Petty Sessions Court until 1969

▪ Front part of the building was County Court offices until c1890

▪ The Ashbourne Telegraph and the Avian Press occupied the front part and the basement, respectively, for many years

Number 50, the former St John’s Hall, is on the south side of the street towards its eastern end separated from the former Duke of Wellington public house by Salt Alley.

The Building

Grade II listed building completed in 1857. It is two storeys high built of red brick with eaves cornice and a tiled roof.

On the first floor, there are three tall arched casement windows with stone lintels and glazing bars for 14 larger central panes and 11 coloured narrow edge panes.On the ground floor there is a shop front, doorway with pilasters and projecting cornice, and a further smaller arched casement window (with no coloured edge panes). There is a side entrance along Salt Alley on the west side. The ridge of the pitched roof at the front of the building is parallel to St John St.

The large hall which is towards the rear of the building also has tall arched casement windows with stone lintels and glazing bars: three on each side plus two on the SE gable end. The windows on the SW and NE sides have 14 largercentral panes plus 11 coloured narrow edge panes, while those on the SE gable end have 17 larger central panes plus 13 coloured narrow edge panes. The ridge of the pitched roof hall is perpendicular to St John St and is at the height of the base of the pitched roof at the front.

The History of its Occupation and Use

At a St John’s Hall shareholder’s meeting held at the Green Dragon Inn, 33 St John St, which is opposite to 50 St John St, on Friday 20 November 1857 the layout of the building is described as follows:

“The building comprises a very spacious and lofty room, 57ft long and 28ft wide,which will be occupied on Sundays by the Wesleyan Reformers as a place of worship, and on weekdays as a lecture room and for holding religious meeting, &c. There are also apartments for use of the Literary Institute, and a residence for the Librarian; another large room, to the front, for holding sittings of the County Court, magisterial, and other public business; and a commodious school-room for the use of the Wesleyan Reformers.”

DerbyshireAdvertiser and Journal - Friday 27 November 1857_p4

The first time St John’s Hall was used for worship was on Sunday 6 December 1857 and later in the month there was an inaugural concert (see advertisements below).

The following year, Francis Wright of the Butterley Company and Osmaston Manor successfully brought forward a motion at Ashbourne Local Board to move the Petty Sessions Court from The Green Man to St John’s Hall. However, when the move was made is not clear because the commercial directories for 1860 and 1864 continue to show the Petty Sessions Court at The Green Man.

The monthly County Court would continue at St John’s Hall until 1961 while the weekly Petty Sessions Court or Magistrates Court (Saturdays at 12:00) would continue there until 1969.

By 1891 the County Court offices had moved and an advert was placed:

The solicitors Cull & Brett and a dental surgeon, Mr. Broad, appear to have moved into these offices later that year. Cull & Brett featured in the 1891 commercial directory on St John St while Mr. Broad advertised his premises on St John’s Hall (see below).

Cull & Brett became Cull, Brett & Osborne in 1908 and would remain at St John’s Hall (offices at the front) until around 1932. MrBroad appears to have continued there until 1904 while G. Pearson opened his furniture showroom in St John’s Hall in 1903.

J. H. Henstock started publishing the Ashbourne Telegraph in 1903 and no later than 1914 he established the Avian Press. Initially on the Market Place, the Avian Press moved to 50 St John St in 1922. Henstock and the Ashbourne Telegraph may have only taken the front of the premises (see below; note the sign on the right side of the door is for Avian Press) after Cull,Brett & Osborne finished around 1932.

The Ashbourne Telegraph merged with the Ashbourne News And Dove Valley Record becoming the Ashbourne News Telegraph in 1957. It is likely that at this time the front offices were vacated because Jessie E. Woolley’s home decorating shop was at 50 St John St from about 1958 until perhaps 1978. It is reported that the Ashbourne News Telegraph moved from under St John’s Hall to the MarketPlace in 1969 although the Avian Press may well have remained there until it was dissolved in 2015.

By the 1980s, 50 St John St was occupied by Derbyshire Dales Shoes( front left), Arthur Chadwick’s Saddler’s and Sweet shop (front right, 50B), and Ashbourne Snooker Club (St John’s Hall). In 1985 the Jehovah’s Witnesses were using the Gallery on the first floor as a religious meeting hall.

In 1994, the Jehovah’s Witnesses took over St John’s Hall while the Ashbourne Gallery opened at the front left, expanding to the upper floor in 1996. At the front right (50B), first Country Cousins arts and crafts were the occupants in the early 1990s before Rita Skidmore opened her chiropodists in 1994.

The Gallery and chiropodists remain, though in different hands, and from 2010 St John’s Hall has been subject to plans for conversion to apartments.

© PaulThompson 2025

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