The Justiciary Buildings is a judicial complex in the Saltmarket in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland. The complex, which operates in conjunction with similar facilities in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, is dedicated for the use of the High Court of Justiciary, which is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. It is a Category A

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 building was commissioned to replace the Glasgow Tolbooth at

Glasgow Cross Glasgow Cross is at the hub of the ancient royal burgh and now city of Glasgow, Scotland, close to its first crossing over the River Clyde. It marks the notional boundary between the city centre and the East End As a major junction at the gate ...

as the main municipal and judicial building in Glasgow. It was designed by William Stark in the neoclassical style, built 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 was completed in 1814. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seventeen bays facing onto the Saltmarket. The central section of five bays was formed by a full-height hexastyle

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 cu ...

with

Doric order The Doric order is 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 t ...

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 ...

, a

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

with triglyphs and a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

. The wing sections, of five bays each, featured pedimented doorways in the central bay and were fenestrated by

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. The end bays, which slightly projected forward, were fenestrated by cross windows on the ground floor and by tripartite windows on the first floor; they were flanked by full height pairs of

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

s supporting an entablature, a frieze with triglyphs and a

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a 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/brea ...

. The central pediment above the portico originally contained the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the City of Glasgow in the tympanum. Internally, the principal rooms were the Justiciary Hall, which was located in the centre of the range behind the portico, the burgh courtroom, which was located to the north of the Justiciary Hall, and the city council chamber, which was located to the south of the Justiciary Hall. The

lord provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

's room and the offices of the town clerks were on the first floor. A tunnel took condemned prisoners from the Justiciary Hall to the place of execution in Jocelyn Square, then known as Jail Square: 67 men and four women were publicly hanged in the square. The building became wholly dedicated to judicial use after the city council relocated to the city and county buildings in Wilson Street in 1844. In the early 20th century, it was decided to remodel the complex, in conjunction with similar facilities in

and

, for the exclusive use of the High Court of Justiciary, which is the supreme criminal court in Scotland. The work was undertaken to a design by James Hoey Craigie of Clarke & Bell between 1910 and 1913. The building was significantly extended to the rear to a design by TBV Consult, the architectural arm of Tarmac Construction, in 1997. The complex was further extended in 2007, and again in 2016, in order to increase the capacity of the complex to nine courtrooms.

References

{{High Court of Justiciary Government buildings completed in 1814 City chambers and town halls in Scotland Category A listed buildings in Glasgow Court buildings in Scotland 1814 establishments in Scotland High Court of Justiciary

History

See also

References