Former Court House, Castlerock Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT51 3HP

Former Courthouse, now Public House, Castlerock Road, Coleraine

This is a former courthouse, now operating as a public house, built in 1850–52 in the neo-Classical style to designs attributed to Stewart Gordon, County Surveyor for County Londonderry from 1834 until his death in 1860. The building was extended in 1908 and stands prominently on a corner site at the junction of Castlerock Road and Captain Street Lower, to the west side of the River Bann, in Coleraine town centre. The listing extends to the public house steps, boundary walling, and gate pillars.

Architectural Overview

The building is constructed in ashlar sandstone and sits on a rectangular plan, with a large tetrastyle portico to the front (southeast) elevation, full-height side wings to the southwest and northeast, and a single-storey extension to the rear. The roof is pitched natural slate concealed behind parapets, with rendered chimneystacks having moulded caps and terracotta pots. Rainwater goods are cast iron, with parapet guttering, hoppers, and downpipes. The ground floor walling features channelled rustication, the basement is squared coursed rubblestone, and there is a chamfered stone plinth. The side wings are in painted smooth render with a string-course between ground floor and basement; the northeast wing has channel rustication with vermiculated quoins.

Principal Southeast Elevation

The principal elevation is dominated by a full-width tetrastyle portico with a plain pediment, to which lettering has been applied to the entablature reading "THE OLD COURT HOUSE." The pediment is supported on four fluted Doric columns with entasis, with pilaster responds flanking three openings. The central doorcase has a large carved plaque over it inscribed "1852," and comprises plain pilasters rising to an ovolo-moulded cornice, with a chamfered moulded reveal containing a set of replacement double-leaf four-panelled timber doors. To either side of the doorcase is a 6-over-6 timber sash window with top and bottom margin panes, scrolled corbels to the sills, and panelled aprons. The entrance is reached by seven stone steps with a modern metal handrail and railings at the top, enclosed by large ornately carved scrolled stone walls.

Windows throughout the main block on the southeast elevation are 6-over-6 timber sash with margin panes and horns, with projecting stone sills and lugged moulded architraves surmounted by pediments. Elsewhere, windows are 6-over-6 timber sash with horns in plain reveals unless otherwise noted.

Southwest Elevation

The front section of the main block is to the right, with a window to the centre. The rear section to the left is divided into two bays by a central square pilaster, each bay two windows wide at each floor, with 6-over-6 windows and modern service doors in plain sandstone surrounds to the basement. The remodelled side wing to the centre has replacement window openings and provides access from Captain Street Lower via a modern four-panelled timber door.

Northwest (Rear) Elevation

The rear gable has a modern metal fire escape to the centre at first floor level. At basement level it is abutted by the single-storey extension, which is constructed in coursed rock-faced blackstone with ashlar sandstone dressings and has a 6-over-6 window at the northeast elevation.

Northeast Elevation

The side wing to the right of centre carries applied lettering reading "THE OLD COURT HOUSE" above the centralised first-floor window, with two replacement timber windows at ground floor right. The right cheek has a replacement window over a modern metal service door at basement level. The left cheek has a window at first floor over replacement double-leaf four-panelled timber doors with a segmental-headed fixed timber tympanum, accessed by eleven stone steps enclosed to the right by a smooth rendered wall with rounded stone coping. The left section of the main block, incorporating the entrance vestibule, is three evenly spaced windows wide. The right section is divided into two bays by pilasters: the left bay is one window wide at each floor with modern double-leaf metal service doors at basement level; the right bay has two windows at each floor.

Setting

The building is prominently situated on its corner site, with brick pavior to three sides. The boundary is defined by rock-faced blackstone walls with sandstone coping topped by replacement cast-iron arrowhead railings, and the building is enclosed to the northwest by a tall rock-faced blackstone wall with coping. A decorative balustrade with sandstone coping and square panelled piers encloses the basement at the northeast. To the front (southeast) are two large ashlar sandstone square gate piers with caps, supporting modern metal railings and Victorian-styled cast-iron piers with gates.

Historical Background

Before this courthouse was built, the town court was held at an earlier courthouse located at the Diamond on the opposite side of the River Bann, which had been demolished by 1846. The Honourable The Irish Society was approached for a site for a new building but declined; the Clothworkers Society instead provided the current plot, which had previously been occupied by a public house and a general grocery store. Stewart Gordon's authorship is considered likely given the similarity of the design to his Third Presbyterian Church at Great James Street in Derry.

The foundation stone was laid on 24th November 1850 by Charles Knox, a local magistrate, and construction was carried out by Constantine Dornan, who regularly undertook contracts for the Clothworkers Society. The building was first recorded on the second edition Ordnance Survey maps of 1849–50, at which point construction had begun and it was captioned as a "gaol." By the time of Griffith's Valuation in 1856, the completed Sessions House was valued at £40 and operated by the Grand Jury of County Londonderry.

The courthouse served as the town's principal judicial centre, also serving the rural district, and included a small jailhouse for the temporary holding of suspects before trial. Around 1859–65, the building was extended to the northwest with the construction of a new bridewell — a jailhouse — built in similar sandstone to the front elevation, along with an enclosed curved rear wall forming a secure recreation area for prisoners. This addition doubled the rateable value of the building to £80. As early as 1871, the Irish Builder reported "glaring structural defects" in the masonry, though no structural changes were made until 1908, when a major renovation and reconstruction was carried out. In that year, the two-storey extension to the southwest side facing Captain Street Lower was erected by Charles Littleboy Boddie (1861–1924), County Surveyor for Londonderry between 1900 and 1924 and the first county surveyor appointed under the Local Government (Ireland) Act of 1898. Despite this near-complete renovation, the rateable value remained at £80 until the First General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1935, when it was increased to £130. At that time the courthouse was administered by Londonderry County Council as a Petty Sessions courthouse, though the bridewell was no longer used for its original purpose.

The courthouse continued to operate until its closure in 1985, having served for over 130 years. In 1979, Rowan described it as "a tetrastyle Greek Doric temple — the columns too closely spaced for comfort — at the head of a flight of steps with large scrolls at the sides." Girvan noted that the original "splendid cast-iron gates" had already been removed by 1972 while the building was still in use as an operating courthouse. After closure in 1985 the building stood vacant for a number of years and was listed in 1997. Around 2000 the interior was converted into a public house, and since opening on 28th February 2001 it has been occupied by a Wetherspoons pub.

Although fully refurbished as a modern public house, much of the external architectural detailing remains intact and the Victorian character is largely preserved. The building is a landmark in the town and makes an important contribution to the character of Coleraine town centre. Its interest is further enhanced by the addition of the bridewell in around 1859–65, including the curved boundary wall which still exists.