Forfar Sheriff Court is a judicial building in Market Street,

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a po ...

Angus Angus may refer to: Media * ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film * ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record'' Places Australia * Angus, New South Wales Canada * Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario * East Angus, Quebec Scotland * Angu ...

, Scotland. The building, which remains in use as a courthouse, is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

History

The first judicial building in the town was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three essent ...

in The Cross which was primarily used to the detention of prisoners and which dated back at least to the 16th century. This was replaced by the

Town and County Hall A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

which was built on the same site in 1788, and was supplemented by a dedicated courthouse erected behind the Town and County Hall in 1824. However, by the mid-19th century the old courthouse was considered inadequate and, following the implementation of the Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act 1860, which laid down minimum standards for courthouses, the

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. ...

decided to commission a new courthouse on a site to the immediate west of Forfar Prison in Market Street. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by

Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie Fox Maule-Ramsay, 11th Earl of Dalhousie, (22 April 18016 July 1874), known as Fox Maule before 1852, as The Lord Panmure between 1852 and 1860, was a British politician. Ancestry Dalhousie was the eldest son of William Maule, 1st Baron Pan ...

on 5 August 1869. It was designed by James Maitland Wardrop of the firm of Brown & Wardrop in the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sc ...

, built in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

stone and was officially opened on by the Sheriff-Substitute, Andrew Robertson, on 2 February 1871. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Market Street with the end bays projected forward; the central section of five bays featured a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...

formed by an arched opening with an architrave flanked by

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s supporting a

balustraded A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

surmounted by

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the apex of a dome, spire, t ...

s. There were tri-partite windows on either side of the portico, five bi-partite windows on the first floor and a panel containing the Royal coat of arms just below the

stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...

above. The outer bays were fenestrated by tri-partite windows on the ground floor and the first floor and by bi-partite windows in the stepped gables above. Smaller panels above the ground floor windows recalled the towns over which the courthouse had jurisdiction viz. "A" for

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. ...

, "D" for Dundee, "B" for

Brechin Brechin (; gd, Breichin) is a city and former Royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin was described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which continues today ...

and "M" for Montrose. The gables were augmented by

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry wall ...

s and

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainl ...

s. A rectangular wing to accommodate the local police force was erected to the northeast of the main structure. Internally, the principal room was a large courtroom on the first floor of the main structure. A plaque was placed on the front of the courthouse to commemorate the march past of elements of Polish I Corps, in front of

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

, accompanied by

Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elisabeth or Elizabeth the Queen may refer to: Queens regnant * Elizabeth I (1533–1603; ), Queen of England and Ireland * Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022 ...

and General

Władysław Sikorski Władysław Eugeniusz Sikorski (; 20 May 18814 July 1943) was a Polish military and political leader. Prior to the First World War, Sikorski established and participated in several underground organizations that promoted the cause for Polish ...

, on 7 March 1941. The courthouse continued to serve a judicial function, being used for hearings of the sheriff's court and, on one day a month, for hearings of the justice of the peace court into the 21st century.

References

External links

*{{commonscat-inline Government buildings completed in 1871 Category B listed buildings in Angus, Scotland Forfar Court buildings in Scotland

History

See also

References

External links