Former Berwick Court House and Prison with attached wall and detached rear stable range

Former Berwick Court House and Prison

This court house and prison was built between 1846 and 1849 to the designs of Thomas Brown, with the prison range extended in 1867 by W J Gray. The building was converted to offices in 1891-1892, with further alterations made in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It is designed in Tudor-Jacobean style. The stable range dates from 1891-1892.

Materials and Construction

The main front range is constructed of yellow ashlar sandstone, whilst the rear prison range and stable range are built of red sandstone. All sections are roofed with slate and feature stone gable copings.

Exterior

The plan comprises a symmetrical front range containing the court house and associated functions including a chapel and staff accommodation, with a rectangular prison range attached to the rear and a detached stable range set further back.

The main west elevation displays five wide bays of two storeys with attics beneath pitched roofs. The end sections have flat roofs and corner towers. Bays two and four project forward, and gables rise above the three centre bays with battlements surmounting the corner towers. Windows throughout are either four-over-four unhorned and horned sashes or one-over-one horned sashes, all fitted with hood moulds. First floor and eaves strings run across the elevation. Double-height canted bay windows with castellated parapets occupy bays two and four. The wider central bay contains end projections rising to paired polygonal chimneys with a high gable between them, and a tall ventilation chimney rises behind. Paired windows to the ground floor flank a plaque recording the Sanitation Board's residency set above the parapet. A porch with stepped groups of lights stands to the right. The side towers contain narrow lights to each floor and are topped with battlements and corner chimney stacks.

The rear prison range extends slightly to the right of the front range and rises to three storeys beneath a castellated parapet. The left and right returns each contain separate entrances: the staff entrance on the left features short flanking stone walls, squat polygonal piers, a six-panel door and an overlight, whilst the public entrance on the right has been blocked with an inserted window. The left return incorporates an attached wall with copings and a stone band, with a central opening fitted with chamfered piers providing access to the former prison yard.

The three-storey plain prison wing has a pitched roof with watertables, ridge and gable chimneys, and is adjoined by an attached castellated corridor range. The rear elevation preserves its original rhythm of three rows of eleven windows. Six of these are original cell windows with bars; the remainder have been enlarged. Set to the rear of the prison yard stands a detached stable range with a pitched roof, numerous stable doors and window openings, and a tall chimney positioned at its south-east corner.

Interior

The building's original plan remains largely readable despite alterations, and the descriptions below follow the original mid-19th century room functions.

Front Range: Court House and Staff Accommodation

Ground floor: The staff side entrance in the left return opens into a lobby with a plaster cornice and a pair of six-panel doors leading to small compartments originally used as a store and water closet. A similar lobby at the former public entrance in the right return also retains its plaster cornice. An entrance with panelled reveals and an overlight opens onto the staff winder staircase, which features an open string with cast-iron barley sugar balusters and newel post, and a wooden ramped handrail. The former matron's parlour to the right has a plaster cornice and shutters to its bay window; a fireplace location marked on the original plans is now obscured by modern panelling. The former witness room, police court and reception cells have been opened out to create a large irregular space with a suspended ceiling, and the former court is further divided by a modern partition. The plain public stair to the first floor retains cast-iron balusters and handrail. An inserted late-19th century timber open-well staircase with simple stick balusters occupies the former location of the matron's bedroom and keeper's office.

First floor: The public stair hall has a curved end wall and provides direct entry to a pair of linked debtors' rooms. The smaller room retains panelled shutters to its windows and a corner fireplace, whilst the larger room contains an arched strong room built within the wall thickness. The former double-height chapel has been subdivided into two rooms with a raised floor accessed by modern stairs. It retains late-19th century plaster cornices, simple architraves and boarded window reveals, but has been truncated by the insertion of a second floor above. The linked former chaplain's room preserves a plaster cornice, shutters to its bay window and a timber chimney piece with cast-iron grate. The former keeper's apartment remains largely intact in plan, with simple plaster cornices, shutters, panelled reveals and soffits to many doorways. The parlour features a pair of original six-panel doors. The kitchen contains a 21-light window overlooking the staircase and a 19th century timber chimney piece with glazed-tile insert and panelled window shutters. The bedroom and parlour both have simple timber chimney pieces, and the parlour also retains a pair of original six-panel doors.

Second floor: The curved end stair hall provides access to the under keeper's rooms, each with six-panel doors, cornices, shutters and simple corner timber fireplaces. The former keeper's apartment extends to this floor and retains shutters, some six-panel doors, further cornices and timber chimney pieces. A short 20th century staircase leads to an inserted attic room above the former chapel. The original vaulted chapel ceiling survives with plaster cornices to the eaves, upper gables and ridge.

Rear Range: Prison Block

The three floors largely preserve their original layout of corridor or gallery with separate cells arranged off. Original corridor ceilings are obscured by suspended ceilings, though one arched plaster roof truss supported on plaster corbels remains visible to the ground floor, with the corbels of others visible to the first floor. The outline of the matron's bedroom canted bay window is retained in the profile of the ground floor west wall. Most original 19th century cell doors have been replaced with modern doors, although four examples survive on the second floor, which also retains a plain cast-iron railing to the former gallery. The arched ceilings of most cells remain in place, although some cells on the lower two floors have been opened together to create larger spaces, and some openings have been infilled or enlarged. The double hospital cells survive intact.

Stable Range

The floor is laid with setts and the roof structure consists of queen-post trusses built from sawn timbers. Original fittings include six timber stalls, two of which retain timber mangers and three of which retain water troughs. Opposite each stall is a timber shelf supported by metal brackets and fitted with shaped wooden hooks for hanging tack.