The colonnade façade of Sheriff Court (1820) is typical of Robert Smirke's Grecian-style design. On the left is a plaque commemorating the magnificent Gowrie House (1520), the site of the mysterious Gowrie Conspiracy (5 Aug 1600), where the descendants of the 1st Earl of Gowrie were murdered. Was it an attempt on the life of King James VI or, on the contrary, vengeance on his part? We will probably never know.