Browse Items (4104 total)

The Building was formerly the Old Jail that opened in 1804. Thomas Craig-Brown bought and renovated the building and opened it in May 1889 as the towns first Free Library. The main Library and Gallery area will be open as part of Doors Open Day.

Original daylight photographic studio, built in 1867, and now used as a working museum and photographic archive.

A free standing, single bay, single storey fire station with ladder tower and drill yard. The relatively modern station is one of eleven fire stations in the Scottish Borders with Retained firefighters on duty.�

Originally Selkirk First United Presbyterian Church it became the Parish Church in 1986. The building is a landmark in the town with its tall 3 storey tower topped with stone spire.�

One of the most conspicuous features of the town, this B listed courthouse was built as the County Buildings by David Rhind in 1868, in the opulent Scottish Baronial style.�It is precipitously sited on a steep downhill slope opposite the jailhouse…

This listed Category A courthouse was completed in 1804 with a 100 foot high spire that dominates the Market Place.Still occasionally used for special meetings and re-enacted court cases using original scripts from old court minutes. Sir Walter Scott…

The National Trust for Scotland’s St Abb’s Head National Nature Reserve boasts a whole host of wildlife, from seabirds to wild flowers and from butterflies to even the odd whale. It also has archaeological sites dating back 3,000 years,…

The original slip launched lifeboat house with a simple arched corrugated roof was extended in the 1990s.There has been a lifeboat station at St Abbs since 1911, so this is year is the station�s centenary. The station operates an inshore B Class…

St Abbs Visitor Centre is a state of the art facility is located in the old village hall, perched precariously on a cliff edge. Built as a resource for both visitors and locals, the Centre offers free admission, interactive exhibits, library area,…

The spire of the church reaches high into the sky on the south-east side of Tweed Green. The church was erected by the remaining sons and daughters of the Rev. Thomas Leckie, the first Pastor of the Associate Burgher Congregation.

A fine Episcopal (Anglican) Church by Rowand Anderson replacing an earlier church of 1769. The church plan is a typical Anglican plan with aisles on either side of the nave and a chancel with stencil work decoration. The pencil-like spire makes a…

Currently listed category B the church was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and built in 1858. It can be described as early decorated, chunky and self sufficient. It contains fine stained glass windows, the most notable of which is a memorial…

The Church was the first to be built in Scotland in 1844 by the Oxford Movement (High Church) and is a Grade A architectural jewel. The architect John Hayward was a colleague of William Butterfield, the chief exponent of the principles of the Oxford…

Listed Category B. Plain Gothic style with single bay chancel. The church forms part of a group of buildings including the Presbytery (added 1899) and former school (now St Joseph�s Neighbourhood Centre).�The church serves the Catholic community in…

Work began in 1843 with the church opening at 15 Buccleuch Street the following year. Alterations were carried out in 1879 when a side aisle (now a side chapel) was added on the south side of the chancel.

Dating from 12C there has long been a church on this site. The current building is listed category B. The T plan shape with its outstanding bellcast-roofed tower dates from rebuilding in 1764, of which little more than the tower survived a major fire…

Simple rectangular gothic church with bellcote and pair of lancet windows on either side of a central buttress on the east gable. Porch on south wall with encaustic tiles floor. Altar, reredos and baldachinno of mahogany, designed by Archibald…

Listed Category B. William Burn designed the original church with the 1882-4 chancel, vestry and porch added by Hay and Henderson. Gothic front to Eastgate with simple rectangular plan inside. Fine 1909 Harrison three-manual organ.

A notable example of an Episcopal Church originally built in 1854 and extended in 1881 with good interior details.�Alterations have taken place over the intervening 151 years including incorporating a hall into the south aisle, removing pews to make…

Facing on to St Georges lane off Buccleuch Road the church was built in 1916, replacing an older building dating from 1843. The building is surprisingly large with a high, dark stained, pine roof with open beams. The most eye-catching feature of the…

Now sensitively refurbished and named the Engine House, this building dates from 1858-65, and was extended to the NE in 1895.� Once used to power the huge mills this former engine shed/boiler house has been brought back to life by Allied Surveyors…

The Haining Studios are a series of six award winning contemporary creative spaces by Lee Boyd Architects within the converted Coach House courtyard on the Haining Estate offering an idyllic artisan haven in a stunning environment.�

A gem of a building, this wonderful A listed Palladian mansion is set in a secluded site near the centre of the town. It was started in 1794 and considerably remodelled and enriched circa 1819 under the direction of Archibald Elliot, architect.The…

A guided walk around the centre of Selkirk which encompasses the old town and more than thirty points of historical, architectural and cultural interest including the old Kirkyard where William Wallace was proclaimed 'Guardian of Scotland'.�

Following a �3m renovation this B listed former weaving shed to the rear of the main mill reopened this summer as the headquarters of the Eildon Housing Group.� Now providing first class office space for over 80 staff,� its transformation was…

Tower Mill was built in 1852 as a spinning mill. It is partly built on a segmental arch spanning over the Slitrig water. The mill was originally powered by a large cast iron water wheel, which remains in place as one of the largest in Southern…

The Ormiston Institute is the INFORMATION CENTRE for the Melrose Doors Open Day. Refreshments are available here all day. Exhibition: Trimontium: Melrose?s Roman Past Exhibition is within the Ormiston Institute. This consists of a series of…

The Trinity Centre was built to celebrate the 2nd millennium and the 150th anniversary of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. It was opened by the Duke of Buccleuch and is used by the local community both young and old.

The Church stands on top of a slope at the east end of Hawick High Street. It is a sizeable building set within its own grounds with a session house and vestry at the south west corner fronting the church hall.� The pediment over the entrance door…

Trinity Church is a good example of a later 19th century Romanesque style church with fine stone detailing to the principal street elevation making a considerable contribution to its immediate surroundings. The interior, though altered, demonstrates…

The base for Selkirk Doors Open Day 2016, this fine red sandstone French renaissance building was open for guided tours into usually private areas of the building including backstage areas, dressing rooms and caretakers flat.

Built in the 19th century, this smoke house, in Mason’s Wynd, between the Masonic Lodge and the Museum, has been in the ownership of the same family for over 100 years. On the ridge of the pantiled roof is a wooden louvered ventilator which…

Wilton Parish Church in its commanding position is, undoubtedly, the most imposing building on the north side of the river. Designed by J T Emmett it was built in 1862. 1908 saw the building considerably extended by J P Alison to provide a north and…

Wilton Park Lodge is a category B listed property set within 107 acres of award winning parkland. Under the ownership of Scottish Borders Council, it is one of the town's principal attractions and has been the home of Hawick Museum for over 80 years.…

A building in the English Decorated Style this delightful church with a scissor braced roof has internal furnishings by Sir Robert Lorimer and Stained Glass by Herbert Hendrie.�

A modern architectural gem in a countryside setting. This glass, brick and concrete structure seems to grow out of the ground and float among the trees. The building was damaged by flooding during an earlier conversion and is therefore in poor…

Members of the Flood Schemes project team will lead tours of the new flood defences. These will take in the riverside defences, the new Bridge Street footbridge and the Long Philip Burn river restoration works.This walk is generally flat and on…

Rowlands is a youth project based in an old hardware store bequeathed by the owner Rowland Tait to the young people of Selkirk.�

The building was originally built in the mid-19th century as part of the Hawick Corn Exchange. Following fire damage it was brought back into use in 2007 as the Heritage Hub with alterations and extensions by Gray, Marshall Associates as part of the…

The fire station opened in 1970. Fully operational Community Fire Station consisting of a Wholetime Firefighter element who are present 24/7 and also a Retained Duty System crew, who attend at time of emergency. Staff training & development is…

The building dates from 1922 when the brethren moved from Myrelawsgreen in Hawick.Tours at 13:15 and 14:00 (and potentially 14:45 if enough demand)PRE-BOOKING ESSENTIAL at lodge111@hotmail.co.ukAccess will be open to the function room as well as the…

The original building dates back to c 1600, with 1859 alterations by Wm Hall &Co Galashiels, and further works in 1910 by JP Allison and 1975by Aitken and Turnbull.Hawick Museum's parkland location and fascinating displays reflect the endeavour…

New centre which only opened in spring 2019, incorporated within Hawick High school to deliver much needed skills back into the textile sectorShowcase training being delivered within centre

The building was originally designed for the Hawick Urban Electric Company in a Tudor Cotswold style in the early 20th century and then became an engineers workshops for Turnbull & Scott. It was brought back into use by the Borders Distillery in…

The home of Hawick Rugby Football Club. The club room contianing the Bill McLaren Room as well as the trophy room and education room will be open.

An outstanding late-19th century Scottish Baronial town hall on a prominent corner site with a tower that has a commanding presence over the whole town. The current town hall replaced the earlier tollbooth on the same site. The building continues to…

Dating back to the late 1920s in a loose Art Deco style, the building was used for offices. It was recently converted to become the Hawick Men's Shed and now provides workshops, display areas and social facilities within a two storey building (access…

Borders Textile Towerhouse lets visitors discover the knitwear and tweed story, how the Borders woollen industries reached the height of luxury and fashion.You will also discover the fascinating history of this 500 year old tower from the days of the…

Richardson and Son and long established local printers in the town. They have been involved in printing a number of publications associated with the history of Hawick, including:"Companion Guide to Hawick and District" for Hawick Archaeological…

Walking tour to see some of the key areas of the First World War training & internment camp including parts of the British Guard camp, a spectacular view of the prisoner of war camp and the re-instated memorial in the former cemeteryDue to…

As part of Doors Open Day, Mark Douglas, the council's Team Leader for Heritage & Design will lead a walk around the town centre to view the works of Hawick's most prominent and prolific architect; James Pearson Alison (1862-1932).Alison set up…

Alloa Fire Station opened in 1964. It currently has three fire appliances, including specialist vehicles for urban search and rescue and heavy rescue, one of which is crewed by twelve retained personnel. There are twenty-five wholetime personnel…

Greenfield House was designed by the Edinburgh architects A G Sydney Mitchell & Wilson for David Paton Thomson, one of the directors of John Paton, Son & Co. Ltd. It was elegantly furnished and housed a fine art collection. The same…

The Earl and Countess of Mar & Kellie's home have some fine family portraits, including a newly arrived three-metre high painting of Walter Coningsby Erskine, 10th Earl of Mar, who inherited the earldom and Alloa estate from his cousin, the 9th…

This church was designed by Peddie & Kinnear in Early French Gothic style and replaced a plain 18th century building. In 1902 Scots late Gothic transepts and a pine and marble sanctuary with an elaborate pulpit by A G Sydney Mitchell &…

The parish church of St Mungo was established in the 14th century then enlarged and the tower raised in 1680-2. The mason was Tobias Bauchop, whose house still stands in Kirkgate. Around 1700, John, 6th Earl of Mar, built a private aisle with burial…

The Sheriff Court was built as the new County and Police Buildings to replace Ochil House. It was designed by Brown and Wardrop in a late Scots-Flemish style and it also reflects the local tradition, with crowstepped gables and gablets. Above the…

The Speirs Centre was built as Alloa Public Baths and Gymnasium and was gifted by John Thomson Paton, Managing Director of John Paton, Son & Co. Ltd, KIlncraigs Mill. It was designed by John James Burnet, Son & Campbell. Construction began in…

This fine church was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson in a simple Geometric style, with a separate bell-tower and tall, broach spire. It is one of the most beautifully designed and finished Episcopal churches in Scotland. It was built for…

Designed by James Gillespie Graham to replace the old parish church in Kirkgate, this Late Georgian building is a large, ornate, battlemented rectangle with a five-bay north elevation. It has an impressive 207ft high spire, its corners clasped by…

The church was constructed in dark brown brick and is still modern in appearance though traditional in form: it has a huge east gable with a five-light window and a belfry with narrow, vertical louvred slits.The nave is spacious and bright, the…

The Alman Dramatic Club was formed in 1939 by a group of fifteen women led by Helen Wright and Nettie Forsyth and soon became the largest performing arts group in the county. This informal group developed into an amateur dramatic club. In 1953 the…

One of the largest and finest towers of its type in Scotland, it was home to the distinguished Erskine family, Earls of Mar, from the later 14th century until 1800. By 1693 a mansion, kitchen tower, brew house and other buildings had been added. In…

James Raymond Johnstone inherited the Alva House estate in 1795. He added a new west wing and probably the stable block and ice house, in c.1810-20. The ice house is buried on the slope below the stables. By the mid-19th century most country houses…

The church of St Serf was rebuilt in 1632 but was abandoned in the 1980s when the congregation merged with that of the Eadie Church. It was demolished after a fire in 1985. Its ‘footprint’ and some inscribed stones remain, along with some interesting…

Designed by James Gillespie Graham, this fine building probably replaced the medieval church built on the site in 1249. In perpendicular Georgian Gothic, with a buttressed tower against the west gable, there have been a number of alterations, but the…

Clackmannan Tower dates from c1360 and was built by the Bruce family. In the 15th century the building was raised to its current height and the taller south wing was constructed. A new mansion was built to the west of the tower in the late 16th…

Clackmannan Town Hall was built in four phases. The main hall was designed by the Alloa architect Adam Frame and built in 1888. The Art Nouveau-style, red sandstone facade on Main Street, designed by Ebenezer Simpson, was gifted by John Thomson…

Devon Colliery has had a long history. It was leased to the Alloa Coal Company in 1843, but flooding, which had always been a huge problem, forced it to close in 1854. The company managed to reopen it in 1879, achieving this with new pit-head plant,…

This fine independent, community-run museum occupies part of a former early 19th century woollen mill and has permanent displays about the history of Dollar and its environs, including Granny’s Kitchen, Castle Campbell, Dollar Academy and the Devon…

This is one of only two churches known to have been designed by Sir William Tite, whose architectural practice was mainly concerned with railways. It is Gothic in style and originally T-plan, with nave, north transepts, a tall bell-tower and small…

Menstrie Castle was built c1560 as a manor house by the Alexander family. It was the birthplace of Sir William Alexander, who had an illustrious career during the reign of James VI and I. In 1621 he began to establish a new colony called Nova Scotia,…

Sir James Schaw of Greenock acquired the estate of Sauchie by marriage and probably built Sauchie Tower c.1415. The Schaws were an influential family in medieval Scotland. The tower complex included an outer wall, cobbled courtyard and large hall…

The church was built as a chapel of ease in 1842 and celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2017. The design consists of a plain nave with a tall, square eastern tower of four stages, including a belfry. The bell was installed in 1846 and was rung in…

Walk 1: The Alloa Wagon Way Alloa Tower was once at the centre of a large estate owned by the Erskines. The 6th Earl of Mar was exiled after leading the 1715 Jacobite Uprising, his title and estate forfeited to the Government. His family bought the…

This remarkable burial ground of the Taits of Harviestoun stands on its own in a field and is encircled by a high stone wall. The 5 monuments and wall plaque commemorate several generations, beginning with John Tait (1727-1800), a wealthy Edinburgh…

The trail starts at St John’s Primary School and is self-guided thereafter. The architect George Kerr (1865-1927) could be called the ‘Charles Rennie Mackintosh’ of Alloa, such was his interest in and use of motifs favoured by his famous…

This elaborate and unusual church was designed by William Stirling to replace its predecessor, built in 1773 on a site a little to the east. Much of the stone from the earlier structure was probably used to build the new church.Built in…

Clackmannan was once the county town, where the Sheriff Court was held and where the Tolbooth was built in 1592. There will be guided walks around this fascinating historic town, led by members of the Heritage Group. The walks will look at the Stone…

Tullibody is an ancient parish linked with Cambuskenneth Abbey. A church was founded in 1149 and parts of this ruined church are probably of that date, though a date stone records its restoration in 1539. It was damaged by the French army of Mary of…

Tullibody is an ancient parish linked with Cambuskenneth Abbey. A church was founded in 1149 and parts of this ruined church are probably of that date, though a date stone records its restoration in 1539. It was damaged by the French army of Mary of…

This church was built to replace the Old Kirk and remains remarkably unaltered. It is of plain form and was designed by P Macgregor Chalmers. It consists of a nave with low north aisle and eastern apse and mostly round-arched, Romanesque windows. …

The picturesque and intriguing ruin of Kennetpans Distillery was the birthplace of the Scottish whisky industry. Founded in the early 18th century by the brothers John and James Stein, by the 1730s it was the largest distillery in Scotland. The…

Tullibody Community Garden is run by the charity Tullibody Healthy Living. The garden is cultivated by volunteers, who gain valuable horticultural skills, as well as growing affordable fruit and vegetables to encourage local people to create fresh,…

Allanton Sanctuary is a beautiful harled late Georgian laird’s house, enlarged and remodelled as a mid-Victorian Baronial manor, which is now the European Sanctuary of The World Peace Prayer Society. It is set in 18 acres of parkland.The Society was…

Start from Gracefield Arts Centre, Edinburgh Road, Dumfries, where you can see the 'Three Cones' and pick up an itinerary from the gallery with full details of directions for the rest of the tour. A chance to take yourself on a quest for the…

This family friendly museum houses a permanent exhibition on the history of Annan and surrounding area. Travel in time from the prehistory to the era of nuclear fusion with displays on the way that include costume, First World War memorabilia, town…

See www.cvcwt.org.uk for more details

This Category B listed building is owned by Dumfriesshire Freemasons, and, as its name suggests, was built in 1825 for assembly and celebration. Doonhamers will tell you it has the best dance floor in the southwest of Scotland. You will have a chance…

A harled, T-plan Kirk, the body built around 1750 with the north aisle added in 1833 by William McCandlish. The west gable has a pyramid-topped bellcote. The windows were given their present round-headed appearance in 1886. The interior is remarkable…

Visit this workshop in the beautiful Glenkens to discover how contemporary and traditional clogs are made by hand. Godfrey Smith has recently made clogs on commission for the National Museum of Scotland but also makes leather boots, shoes and…

Barfil Farm is a 144 hectare upland farm running traditional Galloway cattle, Blackface and Castlemilk Moorit sheep, pigs and hens. Maggie Gordon and Bob Lee have always been interested in conservation and as well as rare plants and native breeds of…

Your chance to visit the Baron’s Craig Hotel, an impressive Victorian period country house, which became a hotel 100 years ago. The Hotel is blessed with a dramatic location in the village of Rockcliffe and stands in wooded countryside, enjoying…

Just west of Newton Stewart is Barraer Farm, where for many decades Mr James Taylor and his wife Helen have farmed. James Taylor has also created a significant collection of agricultural implements from Galloway’s farming past and social…

Barstobrick Visitor Centre and Galloway & Southern Ayrshire Biosphere 14 years ago, Barstobrick was upland grazing, but the Austin family have brought imagination and major changes which have created a welcoming Visitor Centre. Today visitors see…

Scotland's most southerly and smallest distillery nestles on the green banks of the River Bladnoch, from which it takes its name. The distillery dates back to 1817 and stands strong today thanks to the skill of the original masons.

The Irving Family would like to invite you into Bonshaw Tower, a complete, three-storey Peel tower dating from the 1500s. The tower is one of the best remaining examples of a Peel tower and contains fine examples of a dungeon, wheel staircase and…

A warm welcome awaits you at the Brigend Theatre in Market Place, home of the Dumfries Musical Theatre Company, formed in 1922.In 1972, the Society converted the former church into the 92 seat Brigend Theatre, which is used for both rehearsals and…

Come to Langholm to experience Dumfriesshire’s newest venue! Situated on Telford Street in Langholm, the handsomely 21st century Buccleuch Centre seems to sit well with its 19th century neighbours, and is offering an eclectic and high quality…