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Hamilton Sheriff Court

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Hamilton Sheriff Court
Sheriff Court, Hamilton - geograph.org.uk - 455348.jpg
Hamilton Sheriff Court
LocationAlmada Street, Hamilton
Coordinates55°46′46″N 4°02′55″W / 55.7794°N 4.0487°W / 55.7794; -4.0487Coordinates: 55°46′46″N 4°02′55″W / 55.7794°N 4.0487°W / 55.7794; -4.0487
Built1834
ArchitectJohn Lamb Murray
Architectural style(s)Neoclassical style
Listed Building – Category A
Official nameHamilton Sheriff Court including boundary walls and railings, Almada Street, Beckford Street, Hamilton
Designated5 February 1971
Reference no.LB34470
Hamilton Sheriff Court is located in South Lanarkshire
Hamilton Sheriff Court
Shown in South Lanarkshire

Hamilton Sheriff Court is a judicial building in Almada Street, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The building, which continues to serve as the local courthouse, is a Category A listed building.[1]

History

The first judicial building in Hamilton, which contained a council chamber, a courthouse and a jail, was built adjoining the old tolbooth at the junction of Castle Street and Palace Grounds Road and was completed in 1798.[2][a] By the 1830s, the tolbooth complex was very dilapidated and it was decided that "soon all be removed, except the steeple, town clock, and bell."[2]

The foundation stone for a new courthouse was laid on 10 June 1834. It was designed in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was completed later that year. The original design involved a symmetrical main frontage of seven bays facing onto Almada Steet. The central section of the three bays featured a full height tetrastyle portico formed by Ionic order columns supporting a frieze, an entablature and a pediment. There were two-bay wings on either side fenestrated by sash windows.[1] Internally, the principal rooms were the main courtroom, in the centre of the building on the ground floor, and a large hall on the first floor, which was established for county meetings.[3][b] A jail building was also established to the north of the courthouse.[6]

The courthouse was re-modelled to a design by John Lamb Murray in 1886. The works included single-bay extensions, which were slightly projected forward, at either end on the Almada Street frontage. The new bays were fenestrated by sash windows, with architraves and cornices; these windows were flanked by full-height Doric order pilasters supporting friezes, entablatures and cornices. The jail building was demolished, creating space for a long extension along Beckford Street, consisting of a nine-bay central section, which featured another full-height tetrastyle portico, short recessed connecting sections, and three bay wings, all designed by Murray.[7]

The complex continued to serve as the local sheriff court throughout the 20th century and into the 21st century.[8] However, a new building known as Birnie House in Caird Street, was acquired in 2006 to deal with civil and family cases, allowing the Almada Street / Beckford Street building to focus on criminal cases.[9] It remains the third busiest courthouse in Scotland after Edinburgh and Glasgow.[10]

The court scenes for series 6 of the BBC sitcom Still Game were filmed in the courthouse in 2007.[11]

Discover more about History related topics

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing styles of architecture in most of Europe for the previous two centuries, Renaissance architecture and Baroque architecture, already represented partial revivals of the Classical architecture of ancient Rome and ancient Greek architecture, but the Neoclassical movement aimed to strip away the excesses of Late Baroque and return to a purer and more authentic classical style, adapted to modern purposes.

Ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is finely dressed stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruvius as opus isodomum, or less frequently trapezoidal. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be quarry-faced or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.

Ionic order

Ionic order

The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan, and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite order. Of the three classical canonic orders, the Corinthian order has the narrowest columns, followed by the Ionic order, with the Doric order having the widest columns.

Frieze

Frieze

In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon the architrave and is capped by the moldings of the cornice. A frieze can be found on many Greek and Roman buildings, the Parthenon Frieze being the most famous, and perhaps the most elaborate. This style is typical for the Persians.

Entablature

Entablature

An entablature is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave, the frieze, and the cornice. The Greek and Roman temples are believed to be based on wooden structures, the design transition from wooden to stone structures being called petrification.

John Lamb Murray

John Lamb Murray

John Lamb Murray (1838–1908) was a Scottish architect active in the nineteenth century.

Architrave

Architrave

In classical architecture, an architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.

Cornice

Cornice

In architecture, a cornice is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a pedestal, or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown, as in crown moulding atop an interior wall or above kitchen cabinets or a bookcase.

Doric order

Doric order

The Doric order was 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 columns. Originating in the western Doric region of Greece, it is the earliest and, in its essence, the simplest of the orders, though still with complex details in the entablature above.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Edinburgh Sheriff Court

Edinburgh Sheriff Court is a sheriff court in Chambers Street in Edinburgh, within the sheriffdom of Edinburgh and Borders.

Glasgow Sheriff Court

Glasgow Sheriff Court

Glasgow Sheriff Court is a sheriff court in the Gorbals (Laurieston) area of Glasgow, within the sheriffdom of Glasgow and Strathkelvin. It is reputedly the busiest court in Europe.

BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom, based at Broadcasting House in London, England. It is the world's oldest national broadcaster, and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, employing over 22,000 staff in total, of whom approximately 19,000 are in public-sector broadcasting.

Source: "Hamilton Sheriff Court", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 19th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamilton_Sheriff_Court.

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Notes
  1. ^ The old town house was demolished in 1954, when a scroll was found recording its date of construction.[2]
  2. ^ Until 1890, Lanarkshire was divided into three administrative wards: lower (Glasgow), middle (Hamilton) and upper (Lanark) and this building was the meeting place for the middle ward.[4] After the formation of Lanarkshire County Council in 1890, the county council also sometimes met in the Almada Street / Beckford Street building.[5]
References
  1. ^ a b Historic Environment Scotland. "Hamilton Sheriff Court including boundary walls and railings, Almada Street, Beckford Street, Hamilton (LB34470)". Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "The Hamilton Tolbooth 1642-1954". Historic Hamilton. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  3. ^ New Statistical Account of Scotland. Blackwood. 1845.
  4. ^ "Old County of Lanarkshire". Gazetteer for Scotland. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  5. ^ Robson, Peter; Rodger, Johnny (2017). The Spaces of Justice: The Architecture of the Scottish Court. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-1683930891.
  6. ^ "Beckford Street Prison, Hamilton". Prison History. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  7. ^ "County Hall and Sheriff Court Houses and County Police Office". Dictionary of Scottish Architects. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  8. ^ "Hamilton Sheriff Court". Scottish Courts and Tribunals. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Hamilton Sheriff Court Civil Building". Scottish Courts and Tribunals. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  10. ^ "Hamilton Sheriff Court". Doors Open Days. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  11. ^ "Where Is Still Game Filmed? All About Filming Locations". Otakukart. 3 October 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
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