Dingwall Sheriff Court is a former judicial structure in the High Street,

Dingwall Dingwall (, ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland (council area), Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally, ''upland'' refers to a range of hills, typically from up to , while ''highland'' is usually reserved for range ...

, Scotland. The complex, which was used as the headquarters of Ross and Cromarty County Council as well as the local courthouse before being converted for residential use in 2015, is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Loch Maree Poisoning Tragedy inquiry Sept

The Ross and Cromarty

Commissioners of Supply Commissioners of Supply were local administrative bodies in Scotland from 1667 to 1930. Originally established in each sheriffdom to collect tax, they later took on much of the responsibility for the local government of the counties of Scotland. ...

served as the main administrative body for the county from 1667 until 1890 when the county council was created and took over most of the commissioners' functions. In the early 19th century, the commissioners met at 63–64 High Street but, in the early 1840s, they decided that a bespoke courthouse should be commissioned. The site they chose had been formed by filling in an artificial pit with hard rubble. The new building was designed by Thomas Brown II in the Gothic Revival style, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone and was completed in 1845. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of nine bays facing onto Ferry Road. The central section of three bays, which was projected forward, featured an arched doorway with a hood mould flanked by

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s on the ground floor, a prominent tripartite window on the first floor and another lancet window in the gable above. The outer bays of the central section were fenestrated by

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

s on both floors and there were gables above. The left-hand section of five bays featured castellated towers at either end, while the right-hand section of just one bay also took the form of a castellated tower. A prison block was erected to the rear of the courthouse. Internally, the principal room was the main courtroom on the first floor. A three-bay police station, designed by Andrew Maitland, was erected to the right of the courthouse in 1865. Following the implementation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which established county councils in every county, Ross and Cromarty County Council established its offices in the building. The building was the venue for the inquiry into the deaths of the eight people who died as a result of the Loch Maree Hotel botulism poisoning in 1922. The county council relocated to the Old Academy Buildings in Tulloch Street in the 1930s and the police service vacated the complex when they moved to a modern police station to the west of County Buildings in 1972. The Ferry Road building continued to accommodate the sheriff court until its closure in January 2015, and was subsequently converted for residential use.

References

External links

*{{commonscat-inline Government buildings completed in 1845 County halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area) Court buildings in Scotland Dingwall Gothic Revival architecture in Scotland Listed government buildings in Scotland 1845 establishments in Scotland

History

See also

References

External links