Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court

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Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court - geograph.org.uk - 5527133.jpg
The building in 2017
LocationWhytescauseway, Kirkcaldy
Coordinates 56°06′33″N3°09′47″W / 56.1093°N 3.1631°W / 56.1093; -3.1631
Built1894
ArchitectJames Ross Gillespie
Architectural style(s) Scottish baronial style
Listed Building – Category B
Official nameKirkcaldy Sheriff Court including boundary wall and excluding large extension to east, Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy
Designated27 February 1997
Reference no.LB44108
Fife UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Shown in Fife

Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, formerly known as County Buildings, is a judicial building on Whytescauseway in Kirkcaldy in Scotland. The building, which continues to operate a courthouse, is a Category B listed building. [1]

Contents

History

Until the late 19th century, court hearings were held in the old townhouse and jail at the junction of High Street and Tolbooth Street which was completed in 1826. [2] After finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected was on the south side of Whytescauseway. [3]

The new building was designed by James Ross Gillespie in the Scottish baronial style, built in rubble masonry at a cost of £9,000 and was officially opened by Sheriff Aeneas Mackay on 21 May 1894. [4] [5] After it opened, it was initially known as "County Buildings". [6]

The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Whytescauseway. The centre bay featured a three-stage tower: there was a round headed doorway with voussoirs and a keystone in the first stage, a mullioned and transomed window in the second stage and a mullioned window with a Diocletian window above in the third stage, all surmounted by a balustrade. To the right of the centre bay there was a four-stage octagonal turret, which was projected forward from the upper floors of the building: there a small casement window in the first stage, a series of lancet windows in the second stage, blind walls with corner colonettes in the third stage, and a series of small windows in the fourth stage, all surmounted by a conical roof and a weather vane. The left-hand bay, which was hexagon-shaped, was fenestrated by sash windows on both floors and surmounted by a pediment with a hexagon-shaped roof behind. The right-hand bay was fenestrated by a pair of sash windows on the ground floor and by a nine-pane window on the first floor, all surmounted by a stepped gable and a finial. Internally, the principal room was a double-height courtroom on the on the first floor, behind the nine-pane window. [7]

A large extension, with a blind canted wall on the left, a round headed doorway in the centre and a full-height round headed atrium to the right, was added to the east of the main building in 1982. [8] [9] An annexe to the sheriff court, incorporating two new criminal courtrooms as well as a new custody suite, was opened in the former police station on St. Brycedale Avenue on 29 July 2020. [10] The building on Whytescauseway remains the main venue for hearings of the Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. [11]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court including boundary wall and excluding large extension to east, Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy (Category B Listed Building) (LB44108)" . Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  2. ↑ "How Kirkcaldy Town House celebrated its 50th anniversary". Fife Today. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  3. ↑ "Ordnance Survey Six-inch 1st edition, 1843–1882" . Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  4. ↑ Opening of the new courthouse at Kirkcaldy. The Scots Law Times. 2 June 1894. p. 38. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  5. ↑ Glendinning, Miles (2019). History of Scottish Architecture. Edinburgh University Press. p. 569. ISBN   978-1474468503.
  6. ↑ Glen, Duncan (2005). Kirkcaldy A Photographic Guide and Introduction to the History of the Town. Akros. p. 69. ISBN   978-0861421589. In 1894 the Sheriff Court building was known as the County Buildings and cost about £9,000. The architect was James Gillespie…
  7. ↑ Robson, Peter; Rodger, Johnny (2017). The Spaces of Justice The Architecture of the Scottish Court. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 177. ISBN   978-1683930891.
  8. ↑ "Plans for Kirkcaldy court move revealed". The Courier. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  9. ↑ "Courtroom drama as jury seats collapse during child sex abuse trial in Fife". The Courier. 23 January 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  10. ↑ "Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court Annex". Doors Open Days 2024. Retrieved 29 September 2024.
  11. ↑ "Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court". Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
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