Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court
{{short description|Judicial building in Kirkcaldy, Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court
| native_name =
| image = Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court - geograph.org.uk - 5527133.jpg
| caption =The building in 2017
| locmapin =Scotland Fife
| map_caption =Shown in Fife
| coordinates ={{Coord| 56.1093|N| 3.1631|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| location =Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy
| area =
| built =1894
| architect = James Ross Gillespie
| architecture = Scottish baronial style
| governing_body =
| designation1 =Category B Listed Building
| designation1_offname = Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court including boundary wall and excluding large extension to east, Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy
| designation1_date =27 February 1997
| designation1_number =LB44108
| website=
}}
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, formerly known as County Buildings, is a judicial building on Whytescauseway in Kirkcaldy in Scotland. The building, which continues to operate a courthouse, is a Category B listed building.{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB44108|desc= Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court including boundary wall and excluding large extension to east, Whytescauseway, Kirkcaldy|cat=B|access-date=29 September 2024}}
History
Until the late 19th century, court hearings were held in the old townhouse and jail at the junction of High Street and Tolbooth Street which was completed in 1826.{{cite news|url= https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/retro/how-kirkcaldy-town-house-celebrated-its-50th-anniversary-978812 |title= How Kirkcaldy Town House celebrated its 50th anniversary|date=2 May 2019|newspaper=Fife Today| access-date=29 September 2024}} After finding this arrangement unsatisfactory, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse: the site they selected was on the south side of Whytescauseway.{{cite web |url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.5&lat=56.1093&lon=-3.1631&layers=6&b=1&o=100&marker=56.1093,-3.1631|title=Ordnance Survey Six-inch 1st edition, 1843–1882 |access-date=29 September 2024}}
The new building was designed by James Ross Gillespie in the Scottish baronial style, built in rubble masonry at a cost of £9,000 and was officially opened by Sheriff Aeneas Mackay on 21 May 1894.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=slYvAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA38 |title=Opening of the new courthouse at Kirkcaldy|publisher=The Scots Law Times|date=2 June 1894|page =38| access-date=29 September 2024}}{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=z6UxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA569 |title=History of Scottish Architecture |first= Miles|last= Glendinning |year= 2019|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|page=569|isbn=978-1474468503}} After it opened, it was initially known as "County Buildings".{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=oI9nAAAAMAAJ |title=Kirkcaldy A Photographic Guide and Introduction to the History of the Town |first= Duncan|last= Glen |year= 2005|publisher=Akros|page=69|isbn=978-0861421589|quote=In 1894 the Sheriff Court building was known as the County Buildings and cost about £9,000. The architect was James Gillespie…}}
The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Whytescauseway. The centre bay featured a three-stage tower: there was a round headed doorway with voussoirs and a keystone in the first stage, a mullioned and transomed window in the second stage and a mullioned window with a Diocletian window above in the third stage, all surmounted by a balustrade. To the right of the centre bay there was a four-stage octagonal turret, which was projected forward from the upper floors of the building: there a small casement window in the first stage, a series of lancet windows in the second stage, blind walls with corner colonettes in the third stage, and a series of small windows in the fourth stage, all surmounted by a conical roof and a weather vane. The left-hand bay, which was hexagon-shaped, was fenestrated by sash windows on both floors and surmounted by a pediment with a hexagon-shaped roof behind. The right-hand bay was fenestrated by a pair of sash windows on the ground floor and by a nine-pane window on the first floor, all surmounted by a stepped gable and a finial. Internally, the principal room was a double-height courtroom on the first floor, behind the nine-pane window.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RqEuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 |title=The Spaces of Justice The Architecture of the Scottish Court |first1= Peter|last1= Robson|first2= Johnny|last2= Rodger |year= 2017|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson University Press|page=177|isbn=978-1683930891}}
A large extension, with a blind canted wall on the left, a round headed doorway in the centre and a full-height round headed atrium to the right, was added to the east of the main building in 1982.{{cite news|url= https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/courts/686353/exclusive-plans-for-kirkcaldy-court-move-revealed-and-could-pave-way-for-new-justice-centre/ |title= Plans for Kirkcaldy court move revealed|date=12 July 2018|newspaper=The Courier| access-date=29 September 2024}}{{cite news|url= https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/courts/811917/courtroom-drama-as-jury-seats-collapse-during-child-sex-abuse-trial-in-fife/ |title= Courtroom drama as jury seats collapse during child sex abuse trial in Fife|date=23 January 2019|newspaper=The Courier| access-date=29 September 2024}} An annexe to the sheriff court, incorporating two new criminal courtrooms as well as a new custody suite, was opened in the former police station on St. Brycedale Avenue on 29 July 2020.{{cite web|url= https://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/regions/central-fife/kirkcaldy-sherriff-court-annexe |title= Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court Annex|publisher=Doors Open Days 2024| access-date=29 September 2024}} The building on Whytescauseway remains the main venue for hearings of the Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.{{cite web|url= https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/courts-and-tribunals/courts-tribunals-and-office-locations/find-us/kirkcaldy-sheriff-court-and-justice-of-the-peace-court/ |title= Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court|publisher=Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service| access-date=28 September 2024}}