conner395
Former Police Station Grantown on Spey (1960s view)
Here's a police station in Northern Constabulary's force area which was not a Northern Constabulary police station! Confused? Well, let me explain.
Grantown -on-Spey (as it became in 1898 on being made a Burgh, prior to which it was simply Grantown) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantown-on-Spey is s a "new town" or "planned town" created in the 18th century, built on a piece of uninhabited moorland one and a half miles from Castle Grant. The centre of the town was a rectangular piece of grass and round this the first houses were built at “The Square”.
It was situated right on the border of Elginshire (Morayshire) and Inverness-shire, and indeed in 1840 when County policing was being started (or at least professionalised from the previous Rural Constabularies which did - or did not - operate), it created a bit of a quandary. Because part of it was in Inverness-shire, that force felt obliged to have an officer there, and yet most of it was in Elginshire, so could the two counties (or Chief officers) perhaps come to some sort of arrangement? Then, as now, the cost of policing was of great importance!
In any event, following tidying up of county boundaries, the problem went away and the whole of the town and its environs was very much within Elginshire. Having said that, it was bounded on the south and west by Abernethy (Nethybridge) and Duthil (Carrbridge) beats of Inverness-shire Constabulary, and it was a long way away from the County Capital, Elgin. As such, the Grantown bobbies always kept in touch with their neighbours in Inverness-shire, an arrangement which worked well over the years.
This building was constructed in 1868, presumably by the Commissioners of Supply for Elginshire (as Police Authority) or the Town Council of Grantown, and was named the “Town House”. It also hosted a Burgh Courtroom. It could not have a more prominent location in the centre of the Burgh – if you look closely at this photo, a street sign “The Square” is mounted at the corner of the building, with a “Police” sign beside it.
Part of the building, at least, was allocated to the Police and by the 1960s it was recorded that the Station building was owned by the Police Authority, and comprised a Police Office, 2 cells and a 4-roomed apartment (Police House). It is likely that the house was occupied by the Sergeant for the area. By 1930, Morayshire had merged with Nairn to form Moray & Nairn Constabulary, and in 1949 that force was absorbed into the new Scottish North Eastern Counties Constabulary (SNECC) - nothing much North OR East about Grantown's location though, being fairly central in the Scottish Highlands in the foothills of the Cairngorms, some 15 miles north east of Aviemore (Inverness-shire)
The 1974 reorganisation of Scottish Local Government afforded an opportunity to objectively review boundaries and so the Parish of Cromdale and Burgh of Grantown were placed within the new Highland Region (to be policed by Northern Constabulary) - as was the case with Nairnshire also - rather than within Grampian Region (into which the remainder of SNECC merged with Aberdeen City Police). By then however, this building was no longer fit for purpose as a police station and by mid-1973 SNECC had completed the building of a new police station further up the road in Castle Street, complete with 2 attached houses and a flat for officer accommodation. Thus by then time Northern Constabulary had come into being in May 1975, the “Town House” was no longer an operational Police Station, and it was duly handed over to the Highland Council. It is now in use as Council offices and a Public Service Point.
After the merger, Grantown-on-Spey’s Sergeant became responsible for supervision of the Nethybridge Police Station, and Grantown Section subsequently was extended to take in Carrbridge and Boat of Garten. (The single-officer Stations in the small villages of Nethybridge, Boat of Garten and Carr Bridge have since closed and these areas are policed from Grantown/Aviemore.)
The Station in the photograph would have been from where Constable James Fraser of the Elginshire Constabulary set off on 17th July 1878. He was summoned to the nearby Grant Arms Hotel, in response to a report of a male suffering delirium tremens (DTs) in his room in the Hotel, which he was in the process of trashing. PC Fraser was endeavouring to effect the arrest of one Andrew Granger who was causing a disturbance within a bedroom of the hotel. On PC Fraser trying to push the room door open to effect entry, Granger thrust a knife at him and caused him grievous bodily injuries from which died two days later.
Granger was subsequently convicted of killing PC Fraser (but found guilty of the lesser charge of Culpable Homicide instead of Murder).
In the history of the area now policed by Northern Constabulary only two officers died from injuries deliberately inflicted - PC Fraser and PC Thomas King (20 years later and 6 miles away in the adjacent County of Inverness-shire). www.flickr.com/photos/conner395/803771270
Both men are buried in the same graveyard, of Abernethy Parish Church - midway between Grantown and Nethybridge - their graves merely yards apart - and yet (until additional lettering was added to PC Kings gravestone on the centenary of his death) there was nothing to show that either officer had been killed in the line of duty)
God Bless them both.
Former Police Station Grantown on Spey (1960s view)
Here's a police station in Northern Constabulary's force area which was not a Northern Constabulary police station! Confused? Well, let me explain.
Grantown -on-Spey (as it became in 1898 on being made a Burgh, prior to which it was simply Grantown) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantown-on-Spey is s a "new town" or "planned town" created in the 18th century, built on a piece of uninhabited moorland one and a half miles from Castle Grant. The centre of the town was a rectangular piece of grass and round this the first houses were built at “The Square”.
It was situated right on the border of Elginshire (Morayshire) and Inverness-shire, and indeed in 1840 when County policing was being started (or at least professionalised from the previous Rural Constabularies which did - or did not - operate), it created a bit of a quandary. Because part of it was in Inverness-shire, that force felt obliged to have an officer there, and yet most of it was in Elginshire, so could the two counties (or Chief officers) perhaps come to some sort of arrangement? Then, as now, the cost of policing was of great importance!
In any event, following tidying up of county boundaries, the problem went away and the whole of the town and its environs was very much within Elginshire. Having said that, it was bounded on the south and west by Abernethy (Nethybridge) and Duthil (Carrbridge) beats of Inverness-shire Constabulary, and it was a long way away from the County Capital, Elgin. As such, the Grantown bobbies always kept in touch with their neighbours in Inverness-shire, an arrangement which worked well over the years.
This building was constructed in 1868, presumably by the Commissioners of Supply for Elginshire (as Police Authority) or the Town Council of Grantown, and was named the “Town House”. It also hosted a Burgh Courtroom. It could not have a more prominent location in the centre of the Burgh – if you look closely at this photo, a street sign “The Square” is mounted at the corner of the building, with a “Police” sign beside it.
Part of the building, at least, was allocated to the Police and by the 1960s it was recorded that the Station building was owned by the Police Authority, and comprised a Police Office, 2 cells and a 4-roomed apartment (Police House). It is likely that the house was occupied by the Sergeant for the area. By 1930, Morayshire had merged with Nairn to form Moray & Nairn Constabulary, and in 1949 that force was absorbed into the new Scottish North Eastern Counties Constabulary (SNECC) - nothing much North OR East about Grantown's location though, being fairly central in the Scottish Highlands in the foothills of the Cairngorms, some 15 miles north east of Aviemore (Inverness-shire)
The 1974 reorganisation of Scottish Local Government afforded an opportunity to objectively review boundaries and so the Parish of Cromdale and Burgh of Grantown were placed within the new Highland Region (to be policed by Northern Constabulary) - as was the case with Nairnshire also - rather than within Grampian Region (into which the remainder of SNECC merged with Aberdeen City Police). By then however, this building was no longer fit for purpose as a police station and by mid-1973 SNECC had completed the building of a new police station further up the road in Castle Street, complete with 2 attached houses and a flat for officer accommodation. Thus by then time Northern Constabulary had come into being in May 1975, the “Town House” was no longer an operational Police Station, and it was duly handed over to the Highland Council. It is now in use as Council offices and a Public Service Point.
After the merger, Grantown-on-Spey’s Sergeant became responsible for supervision of the Nethybridge Police Station, and Grantown Section subsequently was extended to take in Carrbridge and Boat of Garten. (The single-officer Stations in the small villages of Nethybridge, Boat of Garten and Carr Bridge have since closed and these areas are policed from Grantown/Aviemore.)
The Station in the photograph would have been from where Constable James Fraser of the Elginshire Constabulary set off on 17th July 1878. He was summoned to the nearby Grant Arms Hotel, in response to a report of a male suffering delirium tremens (DTs) in his room in the Hotel, which he was in the process of trashing. PC Fraser was endeavouring to effect the arrest of one Andrew Granger who was causing a disturbance within a bedroom of the hotel. On PC Fraser trying to push the room door open to effect entry, Granger thrust a knife at him and caused him grievous bodily injuries from which died two days later.
Granger was subsequently convicted of killing PC Fraser (but found guilty of the lesser charge of Culpable Homicide instead of Murder).
In the history of the area now policed by Northern Constabulary only two officers died from injuries deliberately inflicted - PC Fraser and PC Thomas King (20 years later and 6 miles away in the adjacent County of Inverness-shire). www.flickr.com/photos/conner395/803771270
Both men are buried in the same graveyard, of Abernethy Parish Church - midway between Grantown and Nethybridge - their graves merely yards apart - and yet (until additional lettering was added to PC Kings gravestone on the centenary of his death) there was nothing to show that either officer had been killed in the line of duty)
God Bless them both.