[1] From the reign of King Edgar in the 10th century, Woodbridge was the centre of the Wicklaw Region[2] and developed as a county town in its own right with its own shire courts.

[3] After the quarter-sessions were removed from Melton, a courtier to Queen Elizabeth I, Thomas Seckford, decided to commission a new sessions house for the Liberty of St Etheldreda.

[1][6] The design provided for access to the courtroom at either end of the building using external stone staircases with wrought iron railings, which led up to first-floor doorways with architraves and carvings of the Seckford coat of arms.

[1] A village pump, with Doric order turrets and a pyramid-shaped roof, was paid for by the Seckford Foundation and installed outside the west end of the building in 1877.

[12][13] Works of art in the shire hall include a nautical painting by William Pike entitled The Sylph at Sea.