Fort William Sheriff Court

Although sheriff court hearings have taken place in Fort William since 1794, a prison, with a courtroom, was only established in the town in 1849. In the early 1870s, court officials decided to commission a dedicated courthouse for the area. The site they selected was on the southeast side of the High Street, just to the west of the prison. The new building was designed by James Matthews and William Lawrie in the Gothic Revival style, built in red sandstone and was completed in 1876. It was extended to the rear in the 1880s. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage of three bays facing southwest down the High Street. The first bay on the left was fenestrated with a pair of arched…