Wick Sheriff Court is a judicial structure in Bridge Street,

Wick, Caithness Wick ( gd, Inbhir Ùige (IPA: �inivɪɾʲˈuːkʲə, sco, Week) is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. "Wick Locality" had a population ...

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

History

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the county town of Caithness and the venue for sheriff court hearings was Thurso. However, in the early 19th century, Wick developed significantly and, following a decree of the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

, hearings were transferred from Thurso to Wick in 1828. Hearings were subsequently held in a courtroom in the newly-completed

Wick Town Hall Wick Town Hall is a municipal building in Bridge Street, Wick, in the Highland area of Scotland. The structure, which is used as a community events venue, is a Category B listed building. History The first municipal building in Wick was a tolb ...

. In the 1860s, 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 that Wick needed a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected was just to the north of the town hall. The new building was designed by David Rhind in the

Renaissance Revival style Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

, 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 officially opened on 16 May 1866. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Bridge Street. The central bay featured a round headed doorway with a keystone and an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

flanked by pairs of Doric order pilasters 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

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 outer bays on the ground floor were fenestrated by round headed

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 keystones and architraves while all three bays on the first floor were fenestrated by bi-partite round headed windows with

balustrade 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 ...

colonnette A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ...

s and rosettes in the spandrels. At attic level, there was a central tower with a window and a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...

flanked by aediculae and, beyond that, by

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

surmounted by ball

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 (geometry), apex of a d ...

s. Internally, the principal room was the main courtroom on the first floor. Following the implementation of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which established county councils in every county, the new county leaders needed to identify a meeting place for Caithness County Council and duly arranged to take possession of the sheriff court and

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

complex in Bridge Street. However, in the 1930s, the county council sought dedicated county offices and acquired a building in the High Street known as

Stafford Place Stafford Place at 61 Redwood Road, Appleby, New Zealand (near Richmond), is registered with the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I structure. Stafford Place was built in 1866 for Henry Redwood and his wife Mary. Through his siste ...

for that purpose. After the abolition of Caithness County Council in 1975, the building 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.

Notes

References

External links

*{{commonscat-inline Government buildings completed in 1866 County halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area) Wick, Caithness Court buildings in Scotland Renaissance Revival architecture in the United Kingdom 1866 establishments in Scotland Listed government buildings in Scotland

History

Notes

See also

References

External links