Inveraray Jail on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Inveraray Jail, formerly County Buildings, is a municipal structure in Church Square,
The building was commissioned to replace the old town house on Front Street which dated from 1755 and which had been deemed too small. The original plans for the new building had called for a courthouse and three prisons, one for males, one for females and one for debtors, but the scheme was deemed too expensive and was curtailed.
The new courthouse was designed by
File:Inveraray Jail, Old Prison.jpg, The old two-storey prison block
File:Inveraray New Jail 01.jpg, The new three-storey prison block
Inveraray
Inveraray ( or ; gd, Inbhir Aora meaning "mouth of the Aray") is a town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is on the western shore of Loch Fyne, near its head, and on the A83 road. It is a former royal burgh, the traditional county town of Arg ...
, Argyll and Bute
Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 2020) ...
, Scotland. The structure, which was the headquarters of Argyll County Council as well as a jail and a 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 building was commissioned to replace the old town house on Front Street which dated from 1755 and which had been deemed too small. The original plans for the new building had called for a courthouse and three prisons, one for males, one for females and one for debtors, but the scheme was deemed too expensive and was curtailed.
The new courthouse was designed by James Gillespie Graham
James Gillespie Graham (11 June 1776 – 11 March 1855) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the early 19th century.
Life
Graham was born in Dunblane on 11 June 1776. He was the son of Malcolm Gillespie, a solicitor. He was christened as J ...
based on initial drawings by Robert Reid in the neoclassical style
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism, 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 pr ...
, 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 Vitruv ...
stone and was completed in 1820. The design of the courthouse involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Church Square. The central bay featured a doorway with a fanlight
A fanlight is a form of lunette window, often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, and is sometimes hinged to a transom. Th ...
on the ground floor and a Venetian window
A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian a ...
on the first floor. The outer bays were fenestrated with round headed windows on the ground floor, sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned window (architecture), paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double gla ...
s on the first floor and small oblong windows at attic level. All the windows on the first floor had balustrades
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 ...
in front of them and were flanked by paired Tuscan order
The Tuscan order (Latin ''Ordo Tuscanicus'' or ''Ordo Tuscanus'', with the meaning of Etruscan order) is one of the two classical orders developed by the Romans, the other being the composite order. It is influenced by the Doric order, but with u ...
pilaster
In classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...
s supporting an entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
, a cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
and a balustraded 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'). Whe ...
. The building was bowed at the back. Internally, the principal room was the main courtroom at the rear of the building on the first floor with views across Loch Fyne
Loch Fyne ( gd, Loch Fìne, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound o ...
.
A two-storey prison block, the "old prison block", which was also designed by Graham, was built in coursed rubble
Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...
to the northeast of the courthouse and was completed at the same time as the courthouse. Following the implementation of the Prisons (Scotland) Act 1839, which brought about various changes including the separation of prisoners, a three-storey prison, the "new prison block", which was designed by Thomas Brown, was built in coursed rubble to the southwest of the courthouse and completed in 1845.
The Prisons (Scotland) Act 1877 brought in further changes, including the transfer of the management of prisons from local authorities to the UK Government and the closure of smaller prisons in favour of larger ones. After the prisoners had been transferred to Barlinnie Prison
HM Prison Barlinnie is the largest prison in Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Prison Service and is located in the residential suburb of Riddrie, in the north east of Glasgow, Scotland. It is informally known locally as The Big Hoose, ...
in 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 ...
, Inveraray Prison closed in 1889.
Following the implementation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 50) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which was passed on 26 August 1889. The main effect of the act was to establish elected county councils in Scotland. In this it foll ...
, which established county councils in every county, the new county leaders needed to identify a meeting place for Argyllshire County Council and duly decided to meet in the courthouse at Inveraray. However, by the mid-20th century the courthouse had become dilapidated and, in 1954, a order was made that there should be no more sheriff court hearings at Inveraray. Police and Justice of the Peace Court hearings continued for a while but, in 1962, Argyll County Council sold the courthouse.
In the early 1960s, there was "no recognised headquarters for the accommodation of all the chief officials for the meetings of the county council." However, by the mid-1960s, the council was officially based at the County Clerk's Offices in Lochgilphead
Lochgilphead (; gd, Ceann Loch Gilb ) is a town and former burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, United Kingdom, with a population of around 2,300 people. It is the administrative centre of Argyll and Bute. The village lies at the end of Loch Gi ...
and it did eventually establish county offices at Manse Bray in Lochgilphead.
The courthouse complex at Inveraray was refurbished to a design by Ian Gordon Lindsay & Partners in 1965 and converted into a visitor attraction as "Inveraray Jail" in May 1989.
Gallery
See also
*List of listed buildings in Inveraray
This is a list of listed buildings in the parish of Inveraray in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
List
Key
See ...
Notes
References
External links
* * {{Scottish Museums and Art Galleries Government buildings completed in 1820 County halls in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Argyll and Bute Inveraray Defunct prisons in Scotland James Gillespie Graham buildings Museums in Argyll and Bute Living museums in the United Kingdom Prison museums in the United Kingdom Listed prison buildings in Scotland