Former Probate Court And Attached Area Railings

The Former Probate Court, built between 1856 and 1858, is now used as offices and was once a museum. It is constructed of brick with ashlar dressings and features slate roofs with tile crests and brick stacks. The building is a double-depth single-storey range with a basement and has a cross wing to the right. The symmetrical front has a two-window range, while the right side has a single-window range that extends to two storeys with an attic.

The building has top cornices, and the single-storey range includes a sill course. The entrance is elliptical-headed with a moulded arch and hood, leading to a recessed six-panel door. Above the door is a frieze inscribed with the words "PROBATE COURT." The single-storey range has a basement with segmental-headed windows in chamfered openings, and the ground floor features three round-headed ovolo-mullioned lights with sashes in architraves. The cross wing has a canted bay window with elliptical-headed lights arranged in a 1:3:1 pattern, while the first floor has a window with three elliptical-headed lights and a dripstone, and the second floor includes a two-light hipped half-dormer.

The left side of the building has a tall lateral stack with flanking round-headed lights, and the rear range is recessed with two windows of two lights. The cross wing features lateral stacks, and the right return has an entrance with a chamfered surround, a two-light window on the first floor, and a single light above on the second floor. The rear includes a lateral stack and flanking hipped dormers. Plain iron area railings surround the property, and a plaque notes that this site was once the location of a house where David Garrick spent his early life before it was demolished in 1856. This building is a rare example of a purpose-built probate court, as wills were typically proved in diocesan courts until 1858.