Greenock Sheriff Court

Greenock Sheriff Court
The building in 2009
Location	Nelson Street, Greenock
Coordinates	55°56′59″N4°45′54″W / 55.9496°N 4.7651°W / 55.9496; -4.7651
Built	1869
Architect	Peddie and Kinnear
Architectural style(s)	Scottish baronial style
Listed Building – Category B
Official name	Greenock Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, including boundary wall, gatepiers and railings, and excluding single-storey extension to north and 2-storey extension to east, Nelson Street, Greenock
Designated	4 December 1980
Reference no.	LB34133
Shown in Inverclyde

Greenock Sheriff Court is a judicial building on Nelson Street in Greenock in Scotland. The structure, which continues to operate as a courthouse, is a Category B listed building. ^[1]

History

Until the early 19th century, all court hearings in Renfrewshire took place in Paisley. However, in 1815, permission was obtained to hold hearings in the old town house in Greenock, which has since been replaced by the Greenock Municipal Buildings. After finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse, which was erected in Bank Street and was officially opened by Sheriff John Colin Dunlop in May 1834. ^[2]

In the early 1860s, court officials decided that a more substantial court building was required. The site they selected was on the south side of Nelson Street. ^[3] Construction of the new building started in 1864. It was designed by Peddie and Kinnear in the Scottish baronial style, built by John Coghill & Co in ashlar stone at a cost of £8,386, and was officially opened by Sheriff Patrick Fraser on 5 November 1869. ^{[2] [4] [5]}

The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Nelson Street. The central bay featured a four-stage tower. There was segmental headed doorway flanked by colonettes supporting a hood mould in the first stage, a mullioned and transomed window with a hood mould and a balcony in the second stage, three tall segmental headed windows in the third stage, and two small round headed widows flanked by bartizans and surmounted by a pediment in the fourth stage. The whole structure was surmounted a pyramid-shaped roof, a small spire and a weather vane. The entire structure was 112 feet (34 m) high. The wings of three bays each were fenestrated by segmental headed windows with hood moulds on the ground floor, by sash windows with moulded surrounds on the second floor and by dormer windows with finials at attic level. Internally, the principal rooms were the offices of the sheriff, sheriff clerk and procurator fiscal at the front on the ground floor, and a double-height main courtroom at the back on the ground floor. ^[6]

A prison at the rear of the courthouse was demolished in 1936. ^[1] The Governor's House, standing to the southwest of the main building, survived but was later sold for private residential use. ^[7]

In October 1999, the building was the venue for a high-profile trial involving three women accused of boarding a Trident support vessel in Loch Goil and throwing computer equipment overboard. Sheriff Margaret Gimblett, having controversially deemed nuclear weapons to be illegal under international law, instructed the jury to find the three women not guilty. A few months later, in the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh, Lord Hardie ruled that the defence was mistaken. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

The local justice of the peace court moved into the building in December 2009. ^[11]

See also

• List of listed buildings in Greenock

References

1. Historic Environment Scotland. "Greenock Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, including boundary wall, gatepiers and railings, and excluding single-storey extension to north and 2-storey extension to east, Nelson Street, Greenock (Category B Listed Building) (LB34133)" . Retrieved 27 September 2024.
2. Smith, Robert Murray (1927). The History of Greenock (PDF). Orr, Pollock & Co. p. 158.
3. "Ordnance Survey Six-inch 1st edition, 1843–1882" . Retrieved 22 September 2024.
4. "Greenock Courthouse, Prison and Governor's House". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Archived from the original on 6 October 2012.
5. Historic Environment Scotland. "Greenock, Nelson Street, Court House (169627)". Canmore . Retrieved 27 September 2024.
6. Greenock Court House, Scotland. The Builder. 19 January 1867. p. 44.
7. Historic Buildings at Work A Guide to the Historic Buildings of Scotland Used by Central Government. Scottish Civic Trust in collaboration with Property Services Agency, Department of the Environment, Scotland. 1983. p. 192. ISBN   978-0904566031.
8. Royle, Trevor (2019). Facing the Bear Scotland and the Cold War. Birlinn. ISBN   978-1788850858.
9. Gardiner, Craig (2018). Melodies of a New Monasticism Bonhoeffer's Vision, Iona's Witness. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN   978-1532644382.
10. Paynter, Neil (2002). This Is the Day Readings and Meditations from the Iona Community. Wild Goose Publications. ISBN   978-1849520287.
11. "Greenock Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court". Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Retrieved 27 September 2024.