Posted in Architecture, Curiosities, Kirkcaldy at 12:00 on 12 March 2013
There’s some nice 50s style pierced brickwork on the gable end of this lawyer’s building in Kirkcaldy.
But it’s the company sign itself which made me do a double take the first time I saw it.
They can’t be that bad, surely!
Just down the same street (where the Sheriff Court can also be found) is this mob.
It would be as well not to fall foul of the law in Kirkcaldy, then.
Posted in Art Deco, Kirkcaldy at 20:05 on 29 November 2012
Stunning Art Deco style lamp shades in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court building. Caught in the late November evening earlier today.
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Posted in Architecture, Kirkcaldy at 21:00 on 3 May 2012
This is Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, a fine example of Victorian Scots baronial architecture.
I have been inside this building once. Not that I was accused of anything – I was called for jury duty. And there’s a curious tale there.
The details of the charge were read out (I forget now what it was – a minor drugs offence, perhaps) before the jurors were chosen. After the ballot, the successful/unlucky ones were asked if there was any reason why they could not try the case.
One woman stood up and said she couldn’t. On being asked why not she said, “I saw the accused … emmm ….” but did not finish her sentence, though her implication was clearly that she had seen the accused act in a criminal way.
The sheriff did not question her about it but merely told her she could go and another juror was chosen. It obviously had not occurred to him that her reason may not have been valid and that she may just have been trying to avoid jury service.
But a more important thought struck me. Hadn’t what she said possibly prejudiced the jury against the accused?
I don’t know if it did since I didn’t see the outcome of the case as the sheriff immediately then dismissed the other potential jurors. I had not been chosen so I left for home.
The Sheriff Court has a nice setting off the same square as Kirkcaldy Town House.
However, a less cropped picture shows the extension (built in the 1970s?)
What on Earth were they thinking? The two parts do not match at all.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court also used to feature in the BBC Scotland comedy series Chewin’ the Fat, though in name only as it was filmed in any likely location.
Here’s one of the clips.
Another extract (less suitable for work) is here. It features a Victorian building which isn’t, though, Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
