Boundary walls, Gatepiers and Lamp Stands, Former Sheriff Court, Hope Street, Falkirk

This is a two-storey, attic and basement former sheriff court, built in the Scots Baronial style between 1866 and 1868 by architects Thomas Brown and James Maitland Wardrop. It occupies a prominent corner site in Falkirk, and is now used as funeral directors’ premises.

The building is characterised by crowstepped gables and a distinctive four-stage circular tower with a tall, candle-snuffer roof, situated in a re-entrant angle on the east elevation. It's constructed from snecked rubble with a base course, a continuous string course above the ground floor featuring hood moulding, and a cornice. Some first floor windows are set within pedimented or semi-circular dormerheads, displaying carved panels depicting historical and armorial subjects. The rear windows of the former courtroom are round-arched.

The west-facing entrance elevation, on Hope Street, has four bays. Steps lead to a centrally positioned timber entrance door with a fanlight, framed by a moulded doorpiece with carved panels above. Flanked on either side are advanced gabled bays featuring stone-mullioned tripartite windows at ground floor level, with carved panels above. The first-floor windows are rectangular with cornices and strapwork details. A recessed bay on the far right incorporates a corner turret with a small, narrow window at the upper storey.

The south elevation, fronting West Bridge Street, is asymmetrical with a pair of near-central gables. The left-hand gable includes a canted re-entrant angle with a timber door and a carved panel above. Above this is a corbelled, square turret, with a quatrefoil dummy gunloop and a bellcast candle-snuffer roof and spirelet. At the west end of this elevation, a studded door opens to what were formerly ground floor cells, featuring small, horizontally barred windows.

The windows are largely timber sash and case. The tripartite windows have a single pane over two panes of glazing, while rectangular windows have a two-pane over four-pane configuration. The roof is covered with grey slates, and tall ashlar chimney stacks are present.

The interior, viewed in 2014, is arranged around a first-floor courtroom. The courtroom features a timber hammerbeam ceiling. A fine, open-well stone stair is distinguished by ornate iron balusters. The first-floor landing incorporates square urn balusters and large square newel posts, with an ornate coved ceiling and a large rectangular lantern light above the stairwell. Larger rooms include cornicing and carved fire surrounds.

A low, coped boundary wall runs along the south and west sides. A pair of panelled gatepiers, topped with spiral metal lamp stands, are situated within the boundary wall on the west side of the building.