Wick Town Hall is a municipal building in Bridge Street, Wick, in the

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

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

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 ...

which was erected on the north side of the High Street in 1750. It accommodated prison cells on the ground floor and a courtroom above. By the early 19th century, the building had become dilapidated, and the burgh leaders decided to replace it. The site they selected for the new building was on the east side of Bridge Street, a short distance from the Bridge of Wick. It was designed by Robert Reid in the neoclassical style, built in coursed rubble masonry and was completed in 1828. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with three bays facing onto Bridge Street. The central bay, which slightly projected forward, was formed by a five-stage tower with the central opening of an arcade in the first stage, a

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 ...

in the second stage, a blind panel in the third stage, an

octagon In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...

al section with alternating clock faces and blind panels in the fourth stage and a circular cupola with a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

and a weather vane in the fifth stage. The outer bays were formed by single-storey structures, which were surmounted by balustraded parapets and which contained the outer openings of the arcade; behind the single-storey sections was the main courthouse block which was fenestrated by

s. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom on the first floor. Petty session hearings, which had previously been held at Thurso, were then relocated to the new courtroom. After a new sheriff courthouse was erected on an adjacent site just to the north in 1866, the town hall was primarily used as a meeting place for the burgh council. The building continued to serve in that capacity for much of the 20th century, but ceased to be the local seat of government when the enlarged Caithness District Council was formed at the council offices in Market Square in 1975. However, the building continued to serve as a community events venue, and a major programme of refurbishment works, involving the installation of a new lift and a new heating system, was carried out in 2012. Works of art in the town hall include a portrait by Henry Raeburn of the naturalist,

Alexander Macleay Alexander Macleay (also spelt McLeay) MLC FLS FRS (24 June 1767 – 18 July 1848) was a leading member of the Linnean Society, a fellow of the Royal Society and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. Life Macleay was born on Ro ...

, a portrait by Benjamin West of the statistician, Sir John Sinclair, and a portrait by Hubert von Herkomer of the local member of parliament, Sir John Pender. There is also a portrait of

David Macbeth Sutherland David Macbeth Sutherland (1883-20 September 1973) was a Scottish artist mainly known for his landscapes and portraits paintings and for his long tenure as the Director of Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen. Biography Sutherland was born in Wic ...

of General Lord Horne and a portrait by unnamed artist of the naval architect,

James Bremner James Bremner (25 September 1784 – August 1856), a notable Scottish naval architect, harbour builder and ship-raiser. Life and work James, the youngest of the nine children of Janet and James Bremner, was born in Stain, near Keiss, in the p ...

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1828 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area) Wick, Caithness Government buildings with domes Clock towers in the United Kingdom Neoclassical architecture in Scotland Listed government buildings in Scotland 1828 establishments in Scotland

History

See also

References