Lanark Sheriff Court is a judicial building in Hope Street,

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

, Scotland. The building, which continues to serve as the local 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 Irel ...

History

The original venue for the administration of justice in the town was

Lanark Castle Lanark Castle was the origin and heart of what later became the royal burgh of Lanark, Scotland. The town grew up outside the castle walls. Long since demolished, the castle lay high on the east bank of the River Clyde, near the confluence with ...

. In the 14th century, the castle was destroyed and both judicial and municipal business moved to the

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 essen ...

in the High Street, with prison cells on the ground floor and a courtroom on the first floor. The building, in its present incarnation, dates from 1778. By the 1830s, the tolbooth was dilapidated and it was decided to commission new public buildings: a site was selected in Hope Street. The new building was designed by Hugh Marr 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 1836. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Hope Street. The central section of three bays, which was slightly projected forward, featured a round headed doorway flanked by two round headed windows. On the first floor there was a

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 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 ...

formed by

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 col ...

columns 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 ...

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 pedimen ...

. The outer sections of two bays each were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors and on the first floor, at the corners, there were

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 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 ...

. The building when completed was referred to as the "County Buildings". The building was extended significantly to the south, by the addition of a courthouse building, in 1868. The design of the courthouse involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Hope Street. The central section of three bays, which was slightly projected forward, featured three round headed windows on the ground floor. On the first floor there were three

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 with

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

supporting cornices or, in the case of the central window, a pediment. The windows were flanked by Doric order pilasters supporting an entablature, a cornice and 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 con ...

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 outer bays were fenestrated in a similar style and, at the corners, there were rusticated pilasters also supporting the entablature, cornice and balustraded parapet. Internally, the principal room was the main courtroom. The complex continued to serve as the meeting place of Lanark Burgh Council for much of the 20th century but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Lanark District Council was formed at the council offices in South Vennel in 1975. The complex also continued to serve as the local sheriff court throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century. In 2002, the

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service , type = , seal = , logo = 250px , logo_caption = , formed = , jurisdiction = Scotland , headquarters = Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD , employees = 1,374 , budget = £129.3 million (2015-2016) , chief1_name = Lord ...

acquired County Buildings and implemented a major programme of refurbishment works which involved the conversion of County Buildings to create a second courtroom. The new courtroom entered service in 2004.

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*{{commonscat-inline Government buildings completed in 1836 Category B listed buildings in South Lanarkshire Court buildings in Scotland Lanark

History

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External links