Town Hall And Sheriff Court, Castle Street, Rothesay, Bute

Town Hall And Sheriff Court, Castle Street, Rothesay, Bute

This is a symmetrical, predominantly 2-storey building with 3-storey sides, comprising a former town hall and county buildings complex designed by James Dempster of Greenock and built between 1833 and 1835. The building occupies a corner site and is dominated by a prominent 3-storey castellated clock tower at its centre, with flanking battlemented corner turrets. It was altered between 1850 and 1867, underwent internal alterations in 1888, and was converted to flats in 2010.

The main structure is constructed of coursed stugged yellow sandstone with grey sandstone dressings and stugged grey sandstone quoins. A raised base course runs beneath the front elevation, which is crowned by machicolated eaves; the sides have corniced eaves, and battlemented parapets run across the building. The front elevation contains seven bays with architraved, pointed-arched windows set in recessed panels. The remaining openings are predominantly architraved with square-headed windows, some featuring long and short quoins, all with stone mullions, transoms, and chamfered reveals.

The south elevation on Castle Street features a central entrance tower with a 2-leaf timber panelled door at ground level, above which is a multi-paned fanlight set in a Tudor-arched surround and flanked by stylised pilasters. At first floor, a battlemented balcony projects outward with a tripartite pointed-arched window above it. The second floor displays a polished hoodmould surmounting a square-headed bipartite window, with a clock-face centred beneath the battlemented parapet. Single gun-loops are set at first-floor level in flanking engaged corner turrets. Tripartite square-headed windows to the left and right of the centre have tripartite pointed-arched windows above them, set in recessed bays topped by battlemented parapets.

The west elevation, facing High Street (Nos 31–43), contains 11 bays. Nos 31 and 33 are 2 storeys tall while the remainder rise to 3 storeys. Timber panelled doors at ground level are accompanied by predominantly plate-glass fanlights (bipartite at Nos 31 and 33). The ground floor shows irregular fenestration with quadripartite, bipartite, and single windows. Some bipartite pointed-arched windows appear at first-floor level.

To the rear stands a piended, harl-pointed rubble prison-cell block at No. 31 dating to circa 1864. Behind the main entrance runs a piended, harl-pointed rubble, 3-storey, 4-bay prison-cell block dating to circa 1865. This block features tooled long and short surrounds to its openings: a round-arched entrance, segmental-arched windows, and narrow rectangular cell-lights. Flanking exercise courtyards, originally segregated for male and female use, adjoin this block. The courtyard to the west was infilled in the later 20th century with a single-storey, flat-roofed block.

The east elevation of the courtyard block displays a round-arched entrance at ground level, offset to the left of centre, with single windows in the remaining bays (one opening is blocked). Single windows appear at first-floor level in the outer left bay, with various cell-lights in the remaining bays at first and second floors. Vaulted cells remain intact. Iron-railed windows protect the openings, and the block is crowned with a grey slate piend roof and coped sandstone ridge chimney stacks.

Windows throughout the building vary between 2-, 5-, 6-, 8-, and 12-pane timber sash-and-case designs with square-headed frames, multi-mullioned timber casements set in pointed-arched surrounds, and part-stained leaded pointed-arched tripartites to the left of the main entrance. The roofs are finished in grey slate, with the tower roof flat. Raised stone skews and corniced and coped ridge and apex chimney stacks are present, along with various circular cans.

Interior information derives from a 1996–97 list description, as the interior was not accessed during a 2011 survey. The building contains 2-leaf multi-mullioned vestibule doors with multi-mullioned side-lights and fanlights. Some timber panelled doors have architraved surrounds, with timber skirting boards, boarded timber dado panelling, and plaster cornice-work throughout. A large Tudor-arch frames the central stair to the rear vestibule, which is fitted with decorative cast-iron balustrades, a timber handrail, and a part-stained circular stairlight featuring fish-scale detailing. The council chamber is believed to contain timber dado panelling, decorative plaster cornice-work, a pitched panelled ceiling (now understood to be covered as of 2011), and corniced door surrounds with stained-glass tripartites. Access to the clock tower is provided via a series of timber ladders.