Police Station

This is a police station built in 1896, designed by John Cresswell, the County Architect. It is constructed of red brick in a Flemish bond pattern, with ashlar dressings and carved red sandstone panels. The roof is covered in Lakeland slate, featuring terracotta ridges and finials. It incorporates wrought-iron railings and a wooden belfry topped with a lead fleche. The building follows an irregular "F" plan with converging ranges at the rear. It is built in a Free Gothic style.

The front of the building is divided into three sections. The central section is three storeys high and five bays wide, with a symmetrical design. There is a plinth, moulded strings, and carved panels below the windows. A set of central panelled double doors are accessed by three steps, flanked by black marble piers. These piers support a carved lintel featuring chained mastiffs and a panel inscribed "POLICE STATION." Below the gable is a circular carved panel displaying the date and County Council arms. The bays on either side are set back at the first floor level, flanked by octagonal turrets with pyramid caps. The end bays are lower and have shafted doorways with lintels inscribed "MAGISTRATES" (left) and "SOLICITORS" (right). The roof is steeply hipped, with gabled dormers and a central octagonal belfry with openwork sides and a panelled spire.

The right section of the building is three storeys high and four bays wide. The right bay projects forward, featuring corbelled-out angle turrets and an octagonal pavilion roof with dormers and decorative balcony rails. A right corner has been canted back, incorporating an oriel. A right return has eight bays with two similar projecting bays. The left section is plainer, two storeys high, and has five irregular bays; the second bay projects forward with corbelled-out angle turrets and a pavilion roof. Behind and above this section is a tall square ventilation tower, which has a corbelled-out stage with angle turrets and pedimented gables, below an octagonal upper shaft with a moulded cap. To the left, attached moulded gate piers with gabled caps hold diagonally-boarded double doors.

The windows are paired and feature shouldered, arched, and cusped heads, with much carved detail. There are openwork and arcaded parapets and tall, stepped and corniced stacks.

Inside the building, there are several staircases with wrought-iron balustrades. The courtroom features a coved canopy with a pediment over the tribunal and a collar-beam roof supported by chevron-carved corbels. The Magistrates' retiring room (now Courtroom No. 2) has a carved mantelpiece and a panelled plaster ceiling. Contemporary stained glass is also present.