25694

 

II  

Designated  

15/08/2001  

15/08/2001  

Old Police Station  

 

Flintshire  

Northop  

Mold  

Northop  

324629  

368443  

S  

The building fronts the road close to the junction with Northop Road (A5119), and faces N towards the church.  

Civil  

 

Dated 1877 and by John Douglas, architect of Chester. Commissioned by John Bankes of the Soughton estate as a police station, court house and newsroom. The former police station was later used as a Public House.  

 

No access to interior at time of inspection.  

Listed as an exceptional civic building of genuine rural character which displays the sensitivity of the architect John Douglas, in handling vernacular forms and materials.  

Old Court House and Old Police Station. Building in Arts and Crafts style constructed of red brick with a variety of detail to the lower storey and half-timbering to the upper storey, under slate roofs with projecting eaves. The Old Police Station is to the L and the former Court House to the R, each clearly expressed. The Police Station has a symmetrical front of one-and-a-half storeys with a L end stack and moulded brick string course. Central recessed doorway with C20 wooden door and flat timber lintel, flanked by wide 4-light casement windows, each with a horizontal glazing bar, square quarries and flat lintel. Centrally located above the doorway and string course is a prominent diamond frieze in blue brick. Aligned above is a wide gabled half-dormer, half-timbered with projecting verges supported on brackets. It contains a 7-light window, the casements with small panes. The Old Court House is 2-storeyed and has an asymmetrical front with hipped roof to R. The ground floor has a high-set 7-light window to the L, the narrow lights with chamfered brick mullions. The central light is blocked with brick, the others with iron-framed glazing. Moulded brick sill, beneath which is a continuous sill band. To the R is a stairlight beneath the eaves, 3-light with chamfered brick mullions, the moulded sill in a different style. Aligned above the 7-light window is the gable of the upper storey, half-timbered, the verges supported on brackets. It contains a wide 8-light window with small-pane casements. Above is a shaped lintel bearing the stylised letters 'JSB' (John Bankes) and the date '1877' flanked by ornamental friezes with circles. The W end contains the entrance to the Court House, offset to the R with recessed boarded door under a flat stone lintel. To the L is a small 2-light brick mullioned window, the sill band continuing from the front as a hoodmould. Above and offset to the R is a wide half-timbered attic dormer containing a 4-light window with small-pane casements. The Court House is L-shaped, the rear range a continuation of the high front gable and containing the court chambers. The return from the W end, facing S, has a 2-light brick mullioned window, whilst the W side of the rear range has a 3-light brick mullioned window to the ground floor. The 2-storey S gable end is of brick with a string course containing a saw-tooth brick band. To each storey are 2 pairs of 3-light windows with chamfered brick mullions, flat brick hoodmoulds and moulded sills. In the R angle of the gable end is a clustered brick shaft. The rear of the Old Police Station has a small C20 brick lean-to to the L containing a door and multi-pane window. Long 2-storey range to R, the W side with small multi-pane windows under segmental brick heads and skylights. The E side of the building adjoins the stables and courtyard of Lislea House (former vicarage).