Hamilton Sheriff Court is a judicial building in Almada Street,
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and no ...
, Scotland. The building, which continues to serve as the local courthouse, is a Category A
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 Irel ...
.
History
The first judicial building in Hamilton, which contained a council chamber, a courthouse and a jail, was built adjoining the old tolbooth at the junction of Castle Street and Palace Grounds Road and was completed in 1798.
By the 1830s, the tolbooth complex was very dilapidated and it was decided that "soon all be removed, except the steeple, town clock, and bell."
[
The foundation stone for a new courthouse was laid on 10 June 1834. It was designed in the ]neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...
, built in ashlar stone and was completed later that year. The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Almada Street. The central section of the three bays featured a full height tetrastyle
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 cult ...
portico formed by Ionic order columns supporting a frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
, an entablature and a pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
. There were two-bay wings on either side fenestrated by sash windows.[ Internally, the principal rooms were the main courtroom, in the centre of the building on the ground floor, and a large hall on the first floor, which was established for county meetings. A jail building was also established to the north of the courthouse.
The courthouse was re-modelled to a design by John Lamb Murray in 1886. The works included single-bay extensions, which were slightly projected forward, at either end on the Almada Street frontage. The new bays were fenestrated by sash windows, with architraves and cornices; these windows were flanked by full-height ]Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of c ...
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 friezes, entablatures and cornices. The jail building was demolished, creating space for a long extension along Beckford Street, consisting of a nine-bay central section, which featured another full-height tetrastyle portico, short recessed connecting sections, and three bay wings, all designed by Murray.
The complex continued to serve as the local sheriff court throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. However, a new building known as Birnie House in Caird Street, was acquired in 2006 to deal with civil and family cases, allowing the Almada Street / Beckford Street building to focus on criminal cases. It remains the third busiest courthouse in Scotland after Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
and Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
The court scenes for series 6 of the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' were filmed in the courthouse in 2007.