Scottish Borders architecture, Castles photos, Historic buildings in southern Scotland
Scottish Borders Buildings
Architecture in southern Scotland : Property News + Photos
post updated 22 May 2023
Scottish Borders Building News
Scottish Borders Buildings
22 May 2023
Orchardton Tower, near Palnackie, Dumfries and Galloway, DG7 1QH, south west Scotland
photograph © Isabelle Lomholt
According to Historic Environment Scotland, ‘Orchardton Tower is an unusual free-standing round tower, the only one of its type in Scotland. It operated as a fortified residence for a nobleman named John Cairns, who may have acquired the land after James II’s overthrow of the Douglases in 1455.
photo © Isabelle Lomholt
Circular towers, or donjons, such as this were integral to 1200s strongholds like Bothwell Castle or Dirleton Castle, but they were replaced by square and rectangular tower houses. At Orchardton, Cairns built himself a round tower 200 years after they’d gone out of fashion.’
3 Mar 2022
The Beekeeper’s House in Roxburgh, Roxburgh – near Kelso
Design: Zone Architects
photograph : Paul Zanre
The Beekeeper’s House, Roxburgh,
This house was commissioned by Kate Atchley, a keen beekeeper and interfaith minister. She searched for and found a south facing plot looking over the Teviot on the edge of a quiet village in the Scottish Borders, near Kelso.
25 Nov 2015
The Mill, Scottish Borders Steading
Design: WT Architecture, Architects
photograph © Andrew Lee
The Mill, Scottish Borders House
Borders Steading is collection of disused farm buildings that nestles into a steep hill overlooking a valley in the Scottish Borders. The brief was to convert the mill to create a modern, rural holiday home that retained much of its historic character.
23 Mar 2018
Scottish Borders Building Design Awards 2018 News
Scottish Borders Building Design Awards 2018
The search is on again for the best designed new buildings in the Borders, with the launch of the Borders Building Design Awards 2018.
The awards intend to promote good building design in the Borders and to strengthen links between builders, architects, Council plannes and other professionals in the industry.
12 Jun 2013
Abbotsford House Visitor Centre, Melrose
Design: LDN Architects
photograph © Paul Zanre
Abbotsford House Visitor Centre
20 Jun 2012
Soccer Pitch in Selkirk Forest
Design: Gareth Hoskins Architects
photo : Angie Catlin
Selkirk Forest Pitch
Brothers Chris and John Houston – both renowned for their rugby – are playing a vital role in the Forest Pitch arts and soccer project which is one of Scotland’s main contributions to the Cultural Olympiad. Their recently established Jedburgh-based company, Caledonia Log Homes Ltd., has built the striking log shelter at the football ground, which has been cut from the heart of a Selkirk spruce wood.
29 Aug 2011
Dean Cottage – Private House near Eddleston, Black Barony, Peeblesshire
Design: ICOSIS Architects
image from Saltire Awards
Eddleston House
Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Guest Chairman Malcolm Fraser has announced a diverse awards shortlist for 2011, with the scheme enjoying another year of encouraging submission numbers.
17 Oct 2011
Ettrick Valley House
Design: Reiach and Hall Architects, Edinburgh
photo © Reiach and Hall Architects
Ettrick Valley House
Gold award for Low cost building of the year, given to the Weavers Cottage in the Ettrick Valley
photos added 7 May 2012
Fairydean Stadium, Galashiels, Scottish Borders
Date built: 1965
Design: Peter Womersley Architect
photo © Adrian Welch
Scottish Borders Stadium Building
This building is designed in a similar architecture style to Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. The raw shuttering of the concrete, the powerful angular forms and the focus on cantilever and buttresses in tension are dominant. The building was controversially listed by Historic Scotland in late 2006.
Scottish Borders Architecture
Photos from 15 Jan 2012:
Hume Castle, near Greenlaw, Berwickshire
Date built: 12th/13th Century
photographs © Adrian Welch
Smailholm Tower, near Kelso, Roxburghshire
Date built: 15th/16th Century
photographs © Isabelle Lomholt
photographs © Isabelle Lomholt
photographs © Adrian Welch
Greenlaw Town Hall
Date built: 1831 ; building restored in 2010
Status: Listed building
was a Building at Risk since 2001
One of the buildings shortlisted in the 2006 BBC television series Restoration Village.
photographs © Niels Lomholt
Kelso Abbey
Date built: founded in the 12th century
photographs © Adrian Welch
Kelso Building in the town square
photograph © AJW
Kelso Hotel Building, on the north side of the square
photograph © AW
Mellerstain House
photograph © IL
Bridge & Folly at St Boswells
Suspension Footbridge over the River Tweed, just north west of Dryburgh Abbey
photograph © Adrian Welch
Folly at St Boswells
photograph © AW
Floors Castle – eastern entry gates, Kelso
photograph © IL
Historic Scottish Borders Buildings
Photos from previously:
Neidpath Castle just west of Peebles in the Scottish Borders:
images © AJW
Hume Castle
scanned photo by architect Adrian Welch 1999
Scottish Borders 20th Century Buildings – Selection
Bernat Klein Studio – project, Selkirk
Date: 2002-
Peter Womersley ; Studio DuB
photo : Rebecca Wober
Klein Studio : house, by architect Peter Womersley
Dingleton Boiler House – redevelopment, Melrose
Date: 2008-
Peter Womersley ; Studio DuB
image : studio DuB
Dingleton Boiler House
Location: Scotland, north west Europe
Architecture in Scotland
Scottish Architecture Designs – chronological list
Dumfries & Galloway Buildings
photograph © Daniel Lomholt-Welch
Dumfries & Galloway Buildings
Traquair, Scottish Borders
photo © Adrian Welch
Traquair House
East Lothian Architecture
A country house that is almost classifiable as a Scottish Castle:
Lennoxlove House, Haddington, East Lothian
image © Adrian Welch
Hailes Castle, East Lothian
One of the most picturesque of Scottish Castles in the central belt is Hailes Castle perched above the River Tyne:
image © Adrian Welch
Borthwick Castle, Midlothian
Crichton Castle, Midlothian
Buildings / photos for the Scottish Borders Buildings page welcome
