Stornoway Sheriff Court, Lewis Street

Thomas Brown, 1843, former jail and walled courtyard; remodelled and extended by Andrew Maitland, 1870 to form 2-storey, multi-gabled, L-plan county building and court house in the Tudor style. Stugged ashlar coursers, polished dressings. Corbelled-out wallhead stacks with tall octagonal flues and moulded skews. Belfry to far-right.

Former jail block to rear with high horizontal window openings (some blocked), shouldered skews and some multi-pane timber windows.

Mostly 4-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Grey slate roof. Cast iron rainwater goods.

The interior, seen 2014, was refurbished following a fire in 1989. Courtroom remodelled in 1993-96. Surviving elements include the decorative cast iron banister and curving timber handrail, scrolled at newel post, to principal staircase. Vaulted ceilings to ground floor rooms and studded cell doors surviving in former jail block to rear. Plain cornicing to hall and courtroom.

Segmental archway to red sandstone rubble boundary wall adjoining south elevation leading to high, enclosed rubble walled courtyard to rear. Low rubble boundary wall to street with coping stones and cast-iron railings. Square-plan ashlar gatepiers with ball finials.