[1] However, as the number of court cases in Winchester grew, it became necessary to commission a dedicated courthouse.

The site selected by the Lord Chancellor's Department, which was just to the east of the Great Hall, formed part of a larger scheme initiated by Hampshire County Council to form a new civic square, with the proposed law courts to the south, Trafalgar House to the east and Three Minsters House to the north.

It was designed in outline by Louis de Soissons and in detail by Richard Fraser in the modernist style,[3] built in stone with brick and flint panels at a cost of £2.6 million and was officially opened by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hailsham, on 22 February 1974.

[8] A sculpture, by Rachel Fenner, recalling elements of the legend of King Arthur was commissioned to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II and unveiled in the civic square in front off the courthouse in 2013.

[9] In February 2017, in an attempt to make the criminal justice system less London-centric, the then Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas, presided at a sitting of the Court of Appeal at Winchester.