The first judicial building in Dumbarton was the old
tolbooth on the north side of the High Street which was first mentioned in 1627 and re-built in around 1645. It initially had separate rooms for the burgh council and for the sheriff court but, in 1794, the council chamber was converted into a prison and the courtroom was subsequently shared. After the tollbooth became dilapidated, the sheriff decided to commission a new courthouse on the east side of Church Street. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Church Street. The central bay, which was slightly projected forward, featured a porch formed by
Doric order columns supporting an
entablature and a
pediment; on the first floor, there was a
sash window located within a slightly recessed round-headed panel. The outer bays were fenestrated by sash windows on both floors: those on the first floor were surmounted by
cornices supported by
brackets, and all three first-floor windows were flanked by pairs of
Ionic order pilasters supporting an entablature, a cornice and a central pediment. The building was therefore further enlarged, in the late 19th century, to incorporate a council chamber for the new county council, as well as offices for the police, to a design by Duncan McNaughtan. after which the Church Street building was used solely for judicial purposes: it 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. The court was the venue, in 1984, for the trial of the
Quaker,
Helen Steven, who was accused of taking part in a nonviolent demonstration at the
Faslane nuclear base: she refused to pay the fine and was imprisoned. An extensive programme of works to increase the capacity of the building was completed in February 2009. The works, which cost £7.5 million and increased the number of courtrooms for three to five, were carried out by
Rok Construction to a design by
Aedas. ==See also==