For many centuries, Inveraray, the seat of the Duke of Argyll, was the principal county town of Argyll. From the mid-18th century the courts met in the Town House on Front Street, and the ground floor below the courtroom served as the county prison. Edinburgh architect Robert Reid drew up plans for a new Courthouse and Prison in 1807, which included separate prison blocks for men, women and debtors. Reid’s proposals were later adapted by the architect James Gillespie Graham who simplified the design of the Courthouse and reduced the prison accommodation to one eight cell block. Work started on the new buildings in 1816 and was completed in 1820.
The Jail and Courthouse opened in 1820 and remained unchanged until 1843 when the Airing Yards were built. These provided a secure place where prisoners could be exercised in the open air. In 1848 the New Prison was completed. This was a model prison for its day with 12 individual cells, a water closet on every floor, accommodation for warders, a store room and indoor exercise gallery. It was also well heated and lit by gas, a far cry from the dark and damp original prison building.
The Jail finally closed on the 30th of August 1889. By this time, in comparison to the larger city prisons, the smaller county jails were expensive and inefficient to run. The Sheriff Court was removed to Dunoon in 1954 and the rarely used courthouse and empty prisons gradually fell into disrepair.
Fortunately, their significance as the finest 19th-century County Courthouse and Prison in Scotland was recognised and The Scottish Office undertook an extensive renovation and in May 1989, almost a hundred years after the last prisoners departed, Inveraray Jail opened to the public.
