The Court House

The Court House is a finely detailed building constructed from blue lias ashlar, featuring vertical tooling at the angles and openings, a white stone plinth and steps, slate hipped eaves roofs, and tall blue lias stacks.

The structure consists of two parallel ranges: a low four-window office range at the front and a taller courtroom at the rear. The front range has a west end stack and a ridge stack to the right of the third bay, with a raised plinth and a stepped eaves cornice. It includes four arched openings with flush voussoirs and raised keystones, three margin-glazed sash windows with stone sills and sunk panels beneath, and double doors in the second bay that are panelled with a plate glass fanlight, accessed by three stone steps. Above the doorway, three carved stone brackets support a shallow projecting stone eaves shelf that displays finely detailed Royal Arms. The end walls are blank. At the southeast corner, there are two white stone ashlar gatepiers with moulded pyramid caps and wooden gates.

The courtroom is taller and features a blank west wall, a similar eaves cornice, end stacks, and a north front with four large arched sashes that have marginal glazing bars. Under the eaves, there are four horizontal cambered-headed windows with cut stone voussoirs. The east end and south front also have similar eaves windows, located behind the roof of the front range. There are three windows on the east and four on the south. The east end has modern lean-to porch additions.

Inside, the courtroom has a plain coffered twelve-panel ceiling, a heavy moulded cornice under the eaves windows, and a raised dais at the west end, which includes a marble fireplace set to the right.