County Buildings is a municipal structure in King Erik Street,

Lerwick Lerwick ( or ; ; ) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom. Centred ...

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, Scotland. The structure, which is used as a judicial complex, is a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The first judicial facility in Lerwick was a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scotland, 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 th ...

in Commercial Street which was completed in the 17th century. After becoming dilapidated, it was demolished and replaced by a new tolbooth, which was built by the local masons, Robert and James Forbes, and completed in around 1770. The new tolbooth was used as a prison as well as a sheriff courthouse: however, in 1836, the prison inspector reported on the poor conditions in which prisoners were held and, by the mid-19th century, the justices were also seeking better facilities. A site for the new building was identified in King Erik Street: it was designed by

David Rhind David Rhind FRSE (1808 – 26 April 1883) was a prominent Scotland, Scottish architect, mainly remembered for his public buildings, banks, churches and schools, most of which are now listed buildings. Life Rhind was born at 15 Gayfield Plac ...

in the

Scottish baronial style Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

, built by D. Outerson in

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

stone, and completed in 1875. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage with four bays facing onto King Erik Street with the central two bays slightly projected forward; the second bay on the left featured a doorway with a

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin , lip), drip mould or dripstone is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a '' pediment''. This moulding can be ...

containing a date stone. On the ground floor, the first and third bays had two-light

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 windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s while the fourth bay had a single-light sash window. On the first floor, the bays, which were all surmounted by

stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

s, featured single-light sash windows. Internally, the main south-facing block contained office accommodation for the sheriff clerk, while additional blocks behind contained the sheriff court, a prison and the local police station. 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 fol ...

established a uniform system of

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

s in Scotland. Zetland County Council, which was created in 1890, established its headquarters in the complex which subsequently became known as the County Buildings. A

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

ional delegation visited County Buildings to inquire into the impact of

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

on local development in July 1974. The complex reverted to being used largely for judicial purposes, accommodating the offices of the

procurator fiscal A procurator fiscal (pl. ''procurators fiscal''), sometimes called PF or fiscal (), is a public prosecutor in Scotland, who has the power to impose fiscal fines. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland (similar to a corone ...

, as well as Lerwick Sheriff Court and the local police station, after Zetland County Council was abolished in 1975. The building featured extensively in the television series ''

'', which was first broadcast in March 2013, as the place of work of the main character, Detective Inspector Jimmy Pérez. The local registrar's office moved from County Buildings to Lerwick Town Hall in February 2015. The building continues to serve as the venue for sheriff court hearings in the area, although, due to staffing issues with the escort services, hearings involving juries were moved to the mainland in July 2023.

References

{{reflist Government buildings completed in 1875

Category B listed buildings in Shetland Lerwick Listed government buildings in Scotland 1875 establishments in Scotland Scottish baronial architecture

History

See also

References