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Summary

Description

David Rhind, 1868 with circa 1994 alterations to upgrade court facilities. Castellated court house block to street, returning to east and incorporating earlier 1815 prison tower and police station to rear. 2-storey, 4-bay with off-centre 3-stage entrance tower to High Street. Squared granite with sandstone dressings. Doorway with narrow side lights, and stepped hoodmoulded oriel window above, all under tower rising through continuous castellated parapet. Ground floor windows with hoodmoulds. Square angle turret to right corner with slit windows to each stage. Asymmetrical side elevations with entrance at first bay to east elevation. Extensive cell block at rear, incorporating 1815 building, comprising 2 towers of 4 and 6 stages, each with an octagonal stair turret and 3-storey block. 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slated roof. Wallhead stacks. Cast iron downpipes. Iron railings and pyramidal capped gate piers.

The interior, seen in 2014, is arranged with the court and public offices on ground floor with an east facing main courtroom on the first floor accessed from a dog-legged staircase with decorative barley twist iron balusters and timber handrail. Much of the 1868 plan remains. The principal courtroom has 6-panel doors and a high, coffered ceiling with moulded and decorative cornicing, flower motifs, scrolled corbels and ornate roses. It also includes raked public timber seating and timber judge's bench with a timber sounding board above. Secondary rooms, offices and passages have decorative cornicing and panelled doors, and there are a number of fireplaces (many now boarded up). The former 1815 prison block to rear has been converted to offices and retains its barrel vaulted cells and police areas at the second floor. There is a small exercise area on the roof accessed from a timber stair in the custody area. Former suite of Fiscal's offices and police station on ground floor to the east is a public library, with its own entrance to the east (2014).

Statement of Special Interest

Designed by prominent 19th century architect David Rhind, Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court dates to 1868 and is a well-detailed court house constructed during the first wave of court house building following the 1860 Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act. Built in high quality materials, it has a distinctive architectural features, Internally, the court has been moderately altered and retains most of its 1868 courtroom components and decorative features. The retention of part of the earlier 1815 former jail section is unusual.

Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court dates to 1868 and was a substantial reconstruction by David Rhind of an 1815 county hall and jail on the same site. The reconstruction to form the present court house incorporates the 1815 former jail to the rear of the building

David Rhind (1808-1883) began training as an architect in circa 1828 in the offices of A C Pugin and completed his training in Italy. Working in a variety of styles from Gothic to Baronial to neoclassical, Rhind was a prominent designer of commercial buildings, and as architect to the Prison Board he designed many courts, such as Wick (1862-66), Dumfries (1863-5) and Selkirk (1867) (see separate listings). His court house designs were stylistically varied and for this building type he often referred to traditional tower house architecture precedents, and this is demonstrated at Kirkcudbright Sheriff Court.

The development of the court house as a building type in Scotland follows the history of the Scottish legal system and wider government reforms. The majority of purpose-built court houses were constructed in the 19th century as by this time there was an increase in the separation of civic, administrative and penal functions into separate civic and institutional buildings, and the resultant surge of public building was promoted by new institutional bodies. The introduction of the Sheriff Court Houses (Scotland) Act of 1860 gave a major impetus to the increase and improvement of court accommodation and the provision of central funding was followed by the most active period of sheriff court house construction in the history of the Scottish legal system, and many new court houses were built or reworked after this date.

Court houses constructed after 1860 generally had a solely legal purpose and did not incorporate a prison, other than temporary holding cells. The courts were designed in a variety of architectural styles but often relied heavily on Scots Baronial features to reference the fortified Scottish building tradition. Newly constructed court buildings in the second half of the 19th century dispensed with large public spaces such as county halls and instead provided bespoke office accommodation for the sheriff, judge and clerks, and accommodated the numerous types of court and holding cells, all features which are present at Kirkcudbright.

Change of category from C to B, statutory address and listed building record revised as part of the Scottish Courts Listing Review 2014-15. Previously listed as 'High Street, Sheriff Court House and Public Library'.

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