Cromarty Courthouse

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Cromarty Courthouse
The old court house (geograph 6600836).jpg
Cromarty Courthouse
LocationChurch Street, Cromarty
Coordinates 57°40′48″N4°01′52″W / 57.6800°N 4.0312°W / 57.6800; -4.0312 Coordinates: 57°40′48″N4°01′52″W / 57.6800°N 4.0312°W / 57.6800; -4.0312
Built1773
Architectural style(s) Scottish medieval style
Listed Building – Category A
Official nameCromarty Court House Museum including prison, gatepiers, boundary wall and railings, Church Street, Cromarty
Designated25 March 1971
Reference no.LB23585
Highland UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Highland

Cromarty Courthouse, formerly Cromarty Town House, is a municipal building in Church Street, Cromarty, in the Highland area of Scotland. The structure, which is used as a museum, is a Category A listed building. [1]

Contents

History

The first municipal building in Cromarty was an ancient tolbooth located on the east side of The Causeway. [2] By the 1770s, the building had become dilapidated, and the future member of parliament for Tain Burghs, George Ross of Pitkerrie, launched an initiative to erect several new structures in the town including a new town house. [3]

The new building was designed in the Scottish medieval style, built in coursed rubble masonry with a cement render finish and was completed in spring 1773. [4] [5] It was known at that time as the Cromarty Town House. [6] The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing onto Church Street. The central bay, which was projected forward, was formed by a three-stage tower with a round headed doorway with an architrave in the first stage, a round headed sash window in the second stage and a Diocletian window in the third stage; the tower was surmounted by an octagonal cupola, a dome and a weather vane. The outer bays were fenestrated by square windows on the ground floor and by round headed windows on the first floor. A clock, designed and manufactured by John Ross of Tain, was installed in the cupola in 1782. Internally, the principal room was the courtroom on the first floor. [4]

Following the disruption of 1843, when a large group of evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland, an unpopular new priest was appointed to the Parish of Resolis. A milkmaid, Margaret Cameron, who had taken part in demonstrations against this new appointment, was imprisoned in the town house and, in September 1843, a group of people from Resolis caused a local sensation by breaking into the town house and freeing her. [7] [8] [9] Improvements, including a new prisoner cell block to the rear of the town house, were completed to a design by Thomas Brown in 1847. [1] [10]

As well as serving as a judicial venue, the building also served as the meeting place of the burgh council. [11] 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 Ross and Cromarty District Council was formed at Dingwall in 1975. [12] The building was restored with the support of Ross and Cromarty District Council in the early 1990s and re-opened as the Cromarty Courthouse Museum in 1991. [11] [13] Artefacts placed on display in the museum included items relating to the life of the writer and translator, Sir Thomas Urquhart. [14]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Cromarty Court House Museum including prison, gatepiers, boundary wall and railings, Church Street, Cromarty (LB23585)" . Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "Cromarty Medieval Burgh Community Archaeology Project" (PDF). Ross and Cromarty Archaeological Services. 30 January 2013. p. 8. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "George Ross c.1700 – 1786". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  4. 1 2 Historic Environment Scotland. "Cromarty, Church Street, The Courthouse (14464)". Canmore . Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  5. ↑ Gifford, John. Highland and Islands (Buildings of Scotland Series). Yale University Press. p. 399. ISBN   978-0300096255.
  6. ↑ Accounts and Papers of the House of Commons. Vol. 23. UK Parliament. p. 7. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  7. ↑ Mackay, Jim. "Margaret Cameron of Ferryton and Sheep Park, and the 1843 Resolis Disruption Riot and Cromarty Jailbreaking". The Kirkmichael Trust. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  8. ↑ Alston, David (1996). The Resolis Riot 28th September 1843 and the Jail Break at Cromarty to Release Margaret Cameron, One of the Rioters. Cromarty Courthouse. ISBN   978-1898416043.
  9. ↑ Sutherland, Elizabeth; Middleton, Merrie (2002). Lydia Wife of Hugh Miller of Cromarty. Tuckwell. p. 84. ISBN   978-1862322219.
  10. ↑ "Cromarty Court House". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  11. 1 2 "Cromarty Town Walk". The Friends of Hugh Millar. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  12. ↑ "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973". Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  13. ↑ Alston, David (1999). Ross and Cromarty: A Historical Guide. Birlinn. p. xii. ISBN   978-1874744481.
  14. ↑ "Cromarty Courthouse". Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
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