Prison And Police Office, Castlehill, Campbeltown

Prison And Police Office, Castlehill, Campbeltown

A former prison designed by Thomas Brown of Edinburgh in 1847 and extended in 1871. The building presents an irregular Jacobethan composition of two storeys, arranged approximately as a T-plan. The core consists of an 8-bay, 2-bay cell block to the south-west with a gabled wing projecting from the left of centre on the north-east (principal) front. A 2-storey, gabled L-plan infill occupies the re-entrant angle to the right of the principal gable, with a later 4-bay, single-storey addition advanced at ground level to Ralston Road.

The walls are constructed of stugged ashlar with droved dressing at the arrises and chamfered arrises to the eaves course.

The north-east (Ralston Road) elevation shows a single bay of the cell block at the outer left. The central feature is a 5-bay, 2-storey symmetrical and gabled wing, with advanced outer bays containing narrow hoodmoulded windows and paired panelled dies forming stack bases. The centre three bays are closely spaced with hoodmoulded windows to the ground floor, first floor windows and a slit window centring the gablehead. A 2-bay, 2-storey L-plan infill stands to the outer right. At ground floor, an entrance block comprises a 4-bay elevation to Ralston Road with an entrance door at the third bay and a chimney gable above, bipartite windows at other bays, and a crenellated parapet to the outer right.

The south-east elevation shows a 2-bay gable end of the cell block at the outer left, blank at ground floor with a narrow blind window at first floor left. A single-flue apex stack corbels out to a square shaft at the gablehead with an octagonal shaft and cope above. A 2-bay side elevation of the north-west wing projects to the right, with an entrance door at ground floor left and a blank bay at ground and first floor right.

The south-west (rear) elevation displays an 8-bay near-symmetrical composition with cell windows at ground and first floor except for a tall opening at the fifth bay and windows at the sixth and seventh bays of the ground floor.

The north-west elevation shows a 2-bay gable end of the cell block at the outer right with a window at first floor left and an apex stack matching that on the south-east elevation. A blank gable end of the infill is at the left.

Most openings on the principal and side elevations retain 12-pane timber sash and case windows, with 8-pane windows at narrower openings. The rear elevation contains varied glazing including 18-pane fixed lights with iron bars at upper floor, a modern window at ground floor fifth bay, timber sash and case and glass bricks elsewhere. The entrance comprises 2-leaf, 6-panel doors with a 2-pane fanlight above.

The roof is covered in grey slate with cast-iron gutters and downpipes. Triangular ashlar skew copes with block skewputts surmount the walls. The chimneys are constructed of stugged ashlar, mostly octagonal with deep copes and circular cans. A large stack centring the ridge of the north-east wing has a square base, octagonal shaft and cope. A 3-flue stack at the ridge of the infill has a rectangular base with canted ends to shaft and cope.

The interior retains much of its original prison layout, comprising a central vaulted corridor at ground and first floor with vaulted prison cells having stone slab floors and painted stone walls. Some original studded timber doors survive.

Boundary walls are constructed of stugged and coursed rubble with saddleback copes. Square gatepiers with encircling iron hinges support modern steel gates on Ralston Road. A high random rubble wall with saddleback cope bounds the rear of the yard.