NOOKS and CORNERS
MINEHEAD’s former combined police station and magistrates court building was snapped up at auction in July for just £610,000.
Designed by Somerset county architect AJ Toomer, and constructed in stripped Classical style in red brick and Portland stone, the complex opened in 1936. With its grand entrance portico featuring a stone-carved Somerset dragon crest, it is an attractive landmark building and was locally listed last year. According to the listing notes, there are more dragons within, as fireplaces and other decorative features survive in the magistrates’ retiring room and chief inspector’s office.
The Ministry of Justice moved out in 2010, after grumbling that the facilities were much nicer and more up to date at the courts in Taunton. That left Avon and Somerset constabulary rattling around the too-large building for a decade, before a nearby day centre for vulnerable people closed down and the police snapped up the smaller building as a replacement. The new station opened last year.