Cromarty Courthouse Museum

Highland – Inverness, Black Isle, Easter Ross

Set back from the street and rising above the fishertoun dwellings, this elegant and classically proportioned A-listed 18th century court house was refurbished in the late 1980s as a museum. It has a distinctive clock tower and octagonal cupola. The building has two floors with a single storey extension to the rear, erected in the mid-19th century to house three cells, with small high level windows and an exercise gallery with a flat stone roof and iron bars in the arcades. The courtroom upstairs has original fixed furniture.

There are 4 story soundscapes in the museum based on real stories and told using our memorable mannequins. Two trials can be heard in the courtroom; the musings of a 17th century earl of Cromarty, Sir Thomas Urquhart; and in a prison cell a Victorian prisoner has a conversation with his jailer. QR codes on the walls allow you to link to the text of the soundscapes on your phones.

This year we also have some puppets in the exercise gallery, depicting the story of the Resolis Riot of 1843, which resulted in a jail break from our Courthouse!

Facilities

• WC
• Parking
• Not Accessible