| Wick Sheriff Court | |
|---|---|
_(cropped2).jpg) Wick Sheriff Court | |
| Location | Bridge Street,Wick |
| Coordinates | 58°26′31″N3°05′34″W / 58.4420°N 3.0928°W /58.4420; -3.0928 |
| Built | 1866 |
| Architect | David Rhind |
| Architectural style(s) | Renaissance Revival style |
Listed Building – Category B | |
| Official name | Wick Sheriff Court, excluding flat-roofed extension to southeast, Bridge Street, Wick |
| Designated | 14 September 1983 |
| Reference no. | LB42300 |
  Shown in Highland | |
Wick Sheriff Court is a judicial structure in Bridge Street,Wick, Caithness, Scotland. The structure, which remains in use as a courthouse, is a Category Blisted building.[1]
When Caithness had been made ashire in 1641, Wick had been declared the head burgh of the shire,[2][3] but after that theSheriff of Caithness had taken to holding most courts and having his clerk's offices inThurso. Following a decree of theCourt of Session, hearings were transferred from Thurso to Wick in 1828.[4][5][6] Hearings were subsequently held in a courtroom in the newly-completedWick Town Hall.[7]
In the 1860s, theCommissioners of Supply decided that Wick needed a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected was just to the north of the town hall. The new building was designed byDavid Rhind in theRenaissance Revival style, built inashlar stone and was officially opened on 16 May 1866.[8][9][10]
The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Bridge Street. The central bay featured a round headed doorway with akeystone and anarchitrave flanked by pairs ofDoric orderpilasters supporting anentablature and acornice. The outer bays on the ground floor were fenestrated by round headedsash windows with keystones and architraves while all three bays on the first floor were fenestrated by bi-partite round headed windows withbalustrades,colonnettes androsettes in thespandrels. At attic level, there was a central tower with a window and amansard roof flanked byaediculae and, beyond that, bypiers surmounted by ballfinials. Internally, the principal room was the main courtroom on the first floor.[1]
The building continues to serve a judicial function, being used for hearings of the sheriff's court and, on one day a month, for hearings of the justice of the peace court.[11]
...ratified with respect to Caithness on 17 November 1641, with Wick as its head burgh
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