Court House, Walls And Gatehouse

The Court House, along with its walls and gatehouse, was built between 1788 and 1791 by W. Blackburn and was formerly a gaol. It is constructed from squared, coursed red sandstone with ashlar dressings, enclosing a large square with splayed corners and a gatehouse at the center of the south face. The walls feature two offsets and a nearly-flush coping, with large, plain ashlar stones positioned on either side of the gatehouse. The lower part of the walls is made of ashlar stone on the inside, without offsets.

The gatehouse projects from the wall and has a central gateway flanked by slightly recessed wings. The gateway features a 2-centred arch with a projecting roll-moulding around it, and above the arch on each side, there is a blank shield. A plain ashlar band runs above, matching the frieze of the wings. The double doors of the gateway have nine flush panels each, and the head of the archway is filled with an iron grille. Outside, there is a footscraper and two stone bollards. The wings have heavily-battered ashlar bases that rise just above the springing of the gateway, with two square-headed single-light windows with iron bars above each wing. Internally, there is wooden casing for a clock over the entrance, with rooms on either side; the western room was originally a porter's lodge, while the eastern room served as a reception area for prisoners.