3-101-191 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Chimney Piece, Sessions House, Clerkenwell, c1886. 'The Chimney-piece is a relic of Hick's Hall,...erected at his own cost in 1612, by Sir Baptist Hicks, as a meeting place for Justices of the Peace of the County of Middlesex...The site of Hick's Hall is marked by an inscription on a house in St John's Street...In 1782 the present Sessions House on Clerkenwell Green was built, and the business of the Court removed thither. An inscription on the Chimney-piece records that: "Sir Baptist Hickes of Kensington in the County of Middlesex Knighte one of the Justices of Peace of this County of Midd. out of his worthy disposition and at his owne proper charge buylt this Session House in the year of our Lord God 1612 and gave it to the Justices of Peace of this County and their successors for a Session House for ever 1618." Underneath is another inscription, stating that the Chimney-piece was removed hither in 1782. Sir Baptist Hicks was a Citizen and Mercer of London, having a silk mercer's shop in Cheapside. He was knighted in 1603, and was one of the first Citizens, who after Knighthood, kept a shop...In 1628, Hicks was raised to the peerage by the titles of Baron Hicks of Ilmington, and Viscount Campden.' Description by Alfred Marks.