{{short description|Courthouse in Elgin, Scotland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Use British English|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox historic site | name = Elgin Sheriff Court | native_name = | image = Elgin Sheriff Court.jpg | caption= Elgin Sheriff Court | locmapin =Scotland Moray | map_caption =Shown in Moray | coordinates ={{coord| 57.6487|-3.3113|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | location = High Street, Elgin | area = | built = 1866 | architect = Alexander and William Reid | architecture = Neoclassical style | designation1 =Category B Listed Building | designation1_offname = Elgin Sheriff Court including boundary wall and railings, High Street and Glover Street, Elgin | designation1_date = 20 August 1981 | designation1_number = LB30778 | website= }} '''Elgin Sheriff Court''' is a courthouse in the High Street, Elgin, Moray, Scotland. The structure is a Category B listed building.<ref name=listed>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num= LB30778|desc= Elgin Sheriff Court including boundary wall and railings, High Street and Glover Street, Elgin |access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>
==History== The first judicial building in the town was a 16th century timber-framed tolbooth in the middle of the High Street in which burgh court and county meetings were held.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|cat=PLA |desc=Elgin Tolbooth|num= 75599 |num2=NJ26SW 147 | access-date=23 June 2025}}</ref> It was rebuilt in stone the early 17th century<ref>{{cite web|url=https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/smrpub/master/detail.aspx?refno=NJ26SW0076 |title=Tolbooth, Elgin|publisher=Aberdeenshire Council| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> and replaced by a combined jail, court house and town hall in the early 18th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RqEuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 |title= The Spaces of Justice: The Architecture of the Scottish Court |first1= Peter|last1= Robson|first2=Johnny|last2= Rodger|year= 2017|page=46|publisher= Fairleigh Dickinson University Press |isbn= 978-1683930891 }}</ref> This, in turn, was replaced by a dedicated courthouse on the south side of the High Street which was designed by William Robertson and completed in 1837.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=232089 |title=Courthouse and county offices|publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>
By the early 1860s, Robertson's courthouse was deemed inadequate, and it was decided to commission a new structure to the immediate east of the existing courthouse to be known as "County Buildings".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RpKAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA563 |title=Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical |volume=3 |year=1883|page=563|first=Francis|last=Groome|publisher=Thomas C. Jack}}</ref> The new building was designed by Robertson's nephews, Alexander and William Reid, in the neoclassical style, built in ashlar stone and was officially opened on 14 January 1866.<ref name=listed/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/building_full.php?id=213701 |title=Elgin Court House| publisher=Dictionary of Scottish Architects| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with five bays facing onto the High Street. The central section of three bays, which slightly projected forward, featured a recessed doorway flanked by two sash windows. On the first floor, the central section was fenestrated by sash windows fronted by balustrades; the central window was flanked by Ionic order columns and the outer windows were flanked by Ionic order pilasters all supporting an entablature, a modillioned cornice and a parapet, which was originally decorated by ten urns.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file85091.pdf |title= Elgin High Street Conservation Area: Appraisal|date=1 February 2012 |page=113|publisher=Moray Council| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> The outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors and were surmounted by an entablature and a modillioned cornice, but no parapet. All the windows on the ground floor, which was rusticated, featured keystones while all the windows on the first floor were surmounted by cornices supported by brackets.<ref name=listed/> Internally, the principal room was a new courtroom which featured a large portrait of Sheriff-Substitute Patrick Cameron.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RBJBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA4|title=Elgin, Past and Present: A Guide and History|first= Lachlan |last=Mackintosh |year=1891|publisher=Black, Walker & Grassie |page=4}}</ref>
Following the completion of the Reid brothers' building in 1866, the 1837 building became known as the "Old Courthouse" and served as the meeting place and offices of the Commissioners of Supply, the main administrative body for the county at the time. The commissioners' functions mostly transferred to the new Elginshire County Council established in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which also met and had its main offices at the Old Courthouse.<ref>{{cite book |last=Shennan |first=Hay |title=Boundaries of Counties and Parishes in Scotland: as settled by the Boundary Commissioners under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889 |year=1892 |publisher=William Green & Sons |location=Edinburgh |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_meygAAAAMAAJ/page/n5 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Elginshire County Council: Getting into harness |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=21 August 2024 |work=Moray and Nairn Express |date=24 May 1890 |page=5}}</ref> Elginshire County Council renamed itself Moray County Council in 1919.<ref>{{cite news |title=Morayshire County Council: Official name of the county |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=21 August 2024 |work=Aberdeen Daily Journal |date=8 May 1919 |page=8}}</ref>
By the 1930s, the county council had outgrown the Old Courthouse; it was demolished and replaced by a new eleven-bay structure. Work began on the new building in 1938, but construction was interrupted by the Second World War.<ref>{{cite news |title=Elgin |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=22 August 2024 |work=Aberdeen Press and Journal |date=29 March 1938 |page=6}}</ref> The new building was eventually completed in 1952, being formally opened on 18 April 1952 as the new "County Buildings".<ref>{{cite news |title=Mr Stuart opens new County Buildings: Elgin ceremony |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/search-newspapers |access-date=22 August 2024 |work=The Scotsman |date=19 April 1952 |page=5}}</ref> The Reid brothers' building then became known as "Elgin Sheriff Court".<ref name=listed/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.moray.gov.uk/downloads/file85091.pdf |title= Elgin High Street Conservation Area: Appraisal|date=1 February 2012 |page=36|publisher=Moray Council| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref>
After the abolition of Moray County Council in 1975, County Buildings was taken over by Moray District Council while the Reid brothers' building continued to be used for hearings of the sheriff court and, on one day a month, for hearings of the justice of the peace court.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/the-courts/court-locations/elgin-sheriff-court-and-justice-of-the-peace-court |title=Elgin Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court|publisher=Scottish Courts and Tribunals| access-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> The Reid brothers' building was extended to the rear by three bays in a similar style in 1993.<ref name=listed/>
==See also== * List of listed buildings in Elgin, Moray
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Government buildings completed in 1866 Category:County halls in Scotland Category:Category B listed buildings in Moray Category:Court buildings in Scotland Category:Listed government buildings in Scotland Category:1866 establishments in Scotland Category:Neoclassical architecture in Scotland Category:Buildings and structures in Elgin, Moray