roxburgh-1956-vol-2/-05_070

Transcription

No. 573 -- MELROSE PARISH -- No. 575

and in the re-entrant angle formed by its S. gable
with the barmkin wall stands a late two-storyed
addition through which the ground floor of the tower
has now to be entered. The walls of the former are
entire. They are built of whin rubble with pinnings,
the dressings of the doors and windows being of
freestone. Two of the windows have a pilastered
treatment, similar to that seen at Colmslie Tower
(No. 572), while a third has a shaft at each side
returning on the lintel to make an ogival head. The
window-mouldings generally resemble those of
Colmslie Tower, other points of resemblance being
the absence of a parapet and of crow-stepped gables.
Originally the tower could be entered only from
within the barmkin. It had two doorways, the
arrangement of which was rather unusual because the
barmkin occupied a piece of sloping ground. The
built-up lower entrance, which opened directly into
the ground floor, can be seen at the N. end of the E.
wall of the main block, within the re-entrant angle.
Its jambs and lintel are moulded, the lintel having
also a Tudor hood-mould. The upper entrance,
situated in the E. wall of the wing a little below the
level of the first floor, has been reached from a bridge
or arched forestair, beneath which there was room
to pass to the lower entrance, the SE. wing-corner
being chamfered off to make passage easier. This
doorway, which opens directly upon the staircase,
has been altered more than once ; its head has
obviously been raised, and the original lintel, bearing
the date 1582 flanked by the initials I P and N P, has
been removed to Torwoodlee.
The ground floor of the tower, a vaulted storehouse,
must have been without direct access to the super-
structure if, as was probably the case, the built-up
doorway seen inside, beside the original entrance,
opened into a cupboard beneath the stair and not
on to the staircase. The present doorway in the S.
gable and the window in the N. gable are both
secondary. The narrow window-really little more
than a slit-that opens to the W. and the gun-loop
at the W. end of the N. wall are, however, original
features.
The first floor is reached from the upper entrance
by a short flight of stone steps, but from this level
upwards the stair has been of wood. It is subdivided
and the existing wooden partitions are of relatively
late date ; but the present arrangement of two rooms
and a lobby no doubt reproduces generally the original
scheme, with the exception, however, that in the first
instance the wing was no doubt shut off from the
main block by a parpent wall which has been re-
moved. The N. chamber has to the N. a fireplace
formed in what had been a window, and to the W.
a window which has been enlarged at a later date.
The S. room has a fireplace, which likewise seems to
be secondary, in the gable and between two windows,
which were built up and used as cupboards when the
S. addition was made. Two other windows, both of
which have been enlarged, open respectively to E.
and W. ; beside the W. one there is a recess for
furniture.
On the two upper floors the arrangement has been
similar.
In 1547 Buckholm, once the property of Melrose
Abbey, was given by the commendator in liferent
to James Hoppringill of Tynnes, his wife Agnes
Forrester and their son John. In the following year
Robert Hoppringill of Blyndley and others were
charged with treasonably assisting the England and
" keeping " (i.e. holding for them) the house of
Buckholm.1 This reference must be to an earlier
house than the present one, which was presumably
built by John Hoppringill or Pringle in 1582 (supra).
John Hoppringill of Bukholme obtained a tack of the
teinds of Bukholme in 1594.
482378 -- N iii. -- 16 June 1933.

574. Tower, Appletreeleaves. The much-
reduced remains of this small oblong tower stand on
the W. slopes of Blaikie's Hill, NE. of the town of
Galashiels ; the building is of late 16th-century date
and until recently formed part of a farm-steading.
The lowest storey alone has survived ; its N. end still
forms the harness room for a stable which has been
built against its N. gable, while its S. end has been
roofed in as a store for implements. The tower,
when complete, measured 31 ft. 2 in. from N. to S.
by 20 ft. 6 in. from E. to W., the S. gable, which is
the highest part, being no more than 15 ft. in height.
The masonry is of rubble, roughly coursed and
pinned. The only opening to be seen externally is
a wide modern archway, surmounted by a plain panel,
which has been formed in the W. wall ; but inside can
be traced a narrow window in the S. gable. This gable
also shows remains of a corbelled scarcement intended
to carry a mezzanine floor, a feature which suggests
that the ground floor of the tower was originally
vaulted.
This property belonged to Melrose Abbey, and in
the 16th century was feued to a family named Darling.
Robert Darling is on record in 1577, and Peter
Darling some twenty years later ; 3 one or other
presumably built the tower.
494366 -- N iii. -- 16 June 1933.

575. Gattonside House. Gattonside House was
probably built in the second quarter of the 19th
century, and is a good example of the work of that
period. In plan, however, it is essentially a Georgian
house. The lay-out includes an oblong main block
of sunk basement, two upper floors, and an attic,
which lies almost due E. and W. and has lower wings
connected with it by passages on E. and W. The W.
wing was enlarged in 1915. The house is com-
modious, the original part containing, in addition to

1 Pitcairn, Criminal Trials in Scotland, i, pt. 1, 338 *.
2 Melrose Regality Records, S.H.S., iii, 350.
3 Melrose Regality Records, S.H.S.,, iii, p. xxix.

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