Inverness Sheriff Court

Castellated court house and prison complex built primarily in 2 phases: William Burn, 1833-6, court house; Thomas Brown II, 1846-8, police station and district court (former prison). Alterations to connect prison to county offices by Ross and Macbeth, 1904; and further alterations, R J Macbeth, 1911. Between the two buildings are the remains of the medieval castle well, restored in 1909.

Court House: 2 storeys, with 7-bay ashlar principal elevation, and advanced and raised centre 3 bays; bay to the left (west) has a round tower; bay to the right (east) has a square plan tower. There is a centre round-arched doorpiece under a gablet and flanked by heavy buttresses. Predominantly round-arched windows linked by continuous hoodmoulding, the first floor windows at 2nd and 6th bays are tripartite. Crenellated parapet, machicolated at towers and with crosslets at towers and centre.

The interior to the court house was seen in 2014 and is arranged with the court and public offices, faculty library and main courtroom at the ground floor, all accessed from a large central hall with colonnade opening onto an imperial stair rising under a coffered barrel vault. To the north of the stair at the ground level is the principal courtroom, with coffered ceiling, and a semi-circular gallery to the south accessed from the first floor. The courtroom is lit by large round-arched tripartite windows and has timber pew seating arranged in a semi-circle around the timber bench which has a Tudor Gothic sounding board canopy above. The well furniture, dock and witness box were been replaced in the 1980s in a period style. Colonnades at ground and first floor groin and barrel-vaulted, springing from heavy pilasters. A perambulatory timber panelled hall links the main courtroom to various rooms at ground floor, including the faculty room. The faculty library has a large bay window to the east and a groin vaulted ceiling, with most furnishings largely intact including the break-front bookcase and library table. All secondary rooms, offices and passages include decorative cornicing and panelled doors, and a number of fireplaces.

Police Station and District Court (Former Prison): 3 storeys and 4 bays to the principal (entrance) elevation. Snecked rubble with ashlar dressings. There is a square tower at southwest and an octagonal tower at northwest with a tall slim circular turret at one angle. Crenellated and machicolated parapet. The interior of the police station was not seen in 2014.

The court house and police station are linked at the east by a martially bastioned enclosing wall enlivened with towers and bartizans, all by Joseph Mitchell, 1839.

Coped, squared and coursed rubble boundary walls enclosing site to the west, north and east.