History in Structure

Old Station House, Harbour Road, Wigtown

A Category B Listed Building in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway

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Coordinates

Latitude: 54.8658 / 54°51'56"N

Longitude: -4.4405 / 4°26'25"W

OS Eastings: 243474

OS Northings: 555064

OS Grid: NX434550

Mapcode National: GBR HHDV.JPY

Mapcode Global: WH3TT.RYPP

Plus Code: 9C6QVH85+8R

Entry Name: Old Station House, Harbour Road, Wigtown

Listing Name: Harbour Road, Old Prison House with Boundary Walls (Former Jail and Police Station)

Listing Date: 20 July 1972

Category: B

Source: Historic Scotland

Source ID: 388927

Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB42391

Building Class: Cultural

ID on this website: 200388927

Location: Wigtown

County: Dumfries and Galloway

Town: Wigtown

Electoral Ward: Mid Galloway and Wigtown West

Traditional County: Wigtownshire

Tagged with: Architectural structure Station master's house

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Description

Thomas Brown Junior, 1846-8. Former county jail and police station in Neo-Tudor style. Rubble with polished red sandstone angles and margins. T-plan 2-storey and attic; offices to front, prison to rear.

Front Elevation: (projecting jamb of T) has tall thin advanced outer bays flanking gabled centre, originally with symmetrical windows, one now enlarged at 1st floor. Single bipartite to ground; 2 single lights and wide bipartite to 1st; small attic light. All windows hoodmoulded, sash and case with plate glass glazing. At outer bays and to gable apex tall octagonal ashlar stacks.

To rear: 5-bay, 2-storey block with cells to ground lit by small rectangular windows placed hugh up. 5 single light 1st floor windows, sash and case with mixed 2 and link walls to sides with sandstone dressings. Pedestrian gate to left, vehicular opening to right. 12-pane glazing. End skews, tall octagonal ashlar stacks. Rubble walls support decorative cast-iron railings; rusticated granite gatepiers.

Statement of Interest

A fine provincial prison building by Thomas Brown, architect to the Prison Board of Scotland. The building incorporated a police station, cell block (they layout of which is shown on the OS Town Plan) and house for the policeman. The array of individual octagonal stone stacks is particularly impressive and gives the building considerable presence.

Thomas Brown (died circa 1872) was the son of Thomas Brown Senior, City Superintendent of Works in Edinburgh. He trained under his father and is believed to have spent time working for William Burn, whose work was probably the inspiration for the choice of Tudor gothic here, and especially the array of chimneys. In 1837 Brown was appointed architect to the Prison Board of Scotland and designed a large number of jails across the country, including Elgin, Stonehaven, Peebles, and sections of Calton Prison. He was very prolific and designed a large number buildings across Scotland, ranging from town halls and country houses to churches and farms.

External Links

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