Description

TORQUAY

SX9164 CASTLE LANE
885-1/14/64 (North side)
30/01/81 The Old Sessions House
(Formerly Listed as:
CASTLE LANE
The Old Police Station)

GV II

Sessions House with police quarters and cells, now used as
shops. 1873-1876 to the designs of Harbottle, contractor WA
Goss (Ellis).
Local grey limestone rubble with a crazed finish with fine
joints; Bathstone and limestone ashlar dressings; slate roofs,
hipped and gabled with terracotta ridge tiles with pierced
cresting; stacks with stone shafts, corbelled cornices and
stone caps. Original rainwater goods with fleur-de-lis and
trefoil brackets. Eclectic Tudor style.
PLAN: Rectangular on plan overall; series of blocks built
round a central stable yard, later roofed over and converted
to fire station.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys. Asymmetrical 4-bay front, the 3
right-hand bays with gables to the front. Two 2-centred
chamfered arched doorways on front, one to the right
preserving blind tracery in the overlight; second bay doorway
altered for shopfront. 2-light ground-floor windows with
central column. 3-light first-floor windows with stone
architraves, the 2 centre ones in a shallow oriel with a
crenellated parapet. Second-floor windows paired lancets with
drip moulds. The left-hand in a shallow gabled oriel on
brackets. The other elevations are in a similar style,
preserving most of the original windows and doors.
INTERIOR: Previous List description notes former court room
with carved stone corbels to arch-braced tie-beam roof;
seating removed. Cells with vaulted ceilings still intact,
notorious because John Lee, "the man they could not hang" was
kept there before his trial.
(Ellis AC: An Historical Survey of Torquay, 2nd edition:
1930-: P.320).

Listing NGR: SX9164964268

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26569253

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Herefordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)