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Justice defiant.

Unknown private author (IWM ?)

The figure of Lady Justice stands defiantly on the dome of the Old Bailey, seat of the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, in this photo taken from the roof of St Paul's Cathedral, January, 1941. The devastation inflicted on central London by the Luftwaffe's "Blitz" is all too clearly to be seen. The Central Criminal Court (in various manifestations) appears to have been associated with this site since the 16th century at the very latest. Previous versions of the premises shared intimate proximity with the ill-famed Newgate Gaol, where unfortunate offenders were confined before and after a visit to the Court. I say "briefly", because, at least up to the mid-19th century, judgement (if not Justice) tended to be swift, often ending up with the subject at the end of a rope. The present building was a product of the great burst of official building (generally, as here, in a Neo-Classical style) that marked the end of the Victorian period and the Edwardian period. In spite of Lady Justice's defiance, the complex was, in fact, badly damaged in the Blitz, but was fully restored (with some variations) in the early 1950s. To the right and rear of the "Bailey" the tower of the Church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate. A church has existed on this site since before the Norman Conquest of England. Like St Paul's, and unlike its near neighbor, the Old Bailey, St Sepulchre's was not significantly damaged in the Blitz (a miracle, some would say) and remains the seat of largest Anglican parish in the City of London. Best regards, JR.