Dingwall Sheriff Court

Thomas Brown II, 1842-45, court house and former prison; Andrew Maitland, 1864, former police station. Large 2-storey, 9-bay, roughly rectangular-plan Tudor Gothic court house and 2-storey, 3-bay, roughly rectangular plan former police station attached at east. Tooled ashlar with polished ashlar dressings. Advanced centre hoodmoulded door to court house, and tall tripartite window with continuous hoodmould above lighting courtroom. Steeply pitched parapeted and finialled gable flanked by gabled bays with canted windows rising 2 storeys. Further ranges set back with square, 3-storey towers in re-entrant angles, at west linked to similar tower by wide 3-bay range. The court house is linked at east angle tower to a later, former police station, with centre hoodmoulded door and first floor windows rise through wallhead as gabled dormers. Wallheads and parapets predominantly crenellated. Mainly 4-pane glazing. Tall, polygonal end stacks (some truncated) and slate roofs.

Interior, seen in 2014, is arranged with the court and public offices at ground floor and an east facing main courtroom at first floor accessed from a dog-legged staircase with decorative barley sugar iron balusters and timber handrail. Much of the 1842-45 plan remains. Large principal courtroom retains most of its mid 19th century furnishings including raked and curved public seating and timber panelled front to Sheriff's bench and jury box. Tripartite window behind bench flanked by round arch niches. A dentilled pediment is evident above north and south end windows. Ribbed ceiling with timber panelled braces and central pendentives. Decorative roof vents. Architectural detailing remains on most rooms, such as cornice, fireplaces, and panelled doors. Hallways have pointed arch detailing to ceiling, some with decorative cross-ribbed vaulting. The interior of the former police station was not seen in 2014.

Former (1843) 2-storey, 7-bay, and roughly rectangular-plan prison block is detached to north (rear) of the court house. Rubble with tooled ashlar dressings. Shallow U-plan opening to north, with centre projecting wing to north. String course between ground and first floor; crenellated wall head to north centre wing. The outer bays are gabled with symmetrical pattern of cell and large multi-pane timber casement windows. Ridge and end stacks. Slate roof. Converted to housing circa 1990s, some cell windows enlarged. The interior was not seen in 2014.

Low stone boundary wall to west, with large pyramidal capped gatepiers and iron railings to south.