In the early 1840s, civic officials decided to commission a prison block for the area. The site they selected was on the east side of Lewis Street. The new building was designed by
Thomas Brown II in the
Tudor Revival style, built in
ashlar stone, and was completed in 1843. It contained a series of prison cells with high horizontal windows. The complex was extended forward, with a new courthouse added at the front, to a design by Andrew Maitland in 1870. In February 1919, the building was the venue for the
public inquiry into the loss of the
steam yacht,
HMY Iolaire, which had been wrecked in a storm at the mouth of
Stornoway harbour on
New Year's Day 1919. The disaster killed more than 200 people, including many of the young men of the isles of
Lewis and
Harris. The jury found that the officer in charge did not exercise sufficient prudence in approaching the harbour, and that the boat failed to slow down. The building continues to serve as the venue for sheriff court hearings in the area, although, due to staffing issues with the escort services, hearings involving juries were moved to the mainland in July 2023. ==See also==