Gattonside is a small village in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

. It is located north of Melrose, on the north side of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water ( gd, Abhainn Thuaidh, sco, Watter o Tweid, cy, Tuedd), is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the R ...

. In 1143, the lands of Gattonside were granted to the monks of

Melrose Abbey St Mary's Abbey, Melrose is a partly ruined monastery of the Cistercian order in Melrose, Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks at the request of King David I of Scotland and was the chief house of ...

King David I David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Scottish Gaelic language, Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was David, Prince of the Cumbrians, Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later Ki ...

. Gattonside was the home of modernist architect

Peter Womersley Peter Womersley (24 June 1923 – 1993) was a British architect, best known for his work in the modernist style. He lived in the Scottish Borders, where a number of his buildings are located, although he worked on projects throughout the UK. Infl ...

(1923–1993), whose self-designed house, The Rig (1956), is now a Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The village is linked to Melrose, on the opposite side of the river, by the 19th-century Gattonside Suspension Bridge. Built in 1826, the bridge was repaired in 1992, and is protected as a Category B

. The plantation owner, Robert Waugh of Harmony Hall was a shareholder who on his death in 1832 left his shares to the poor of Melrose.

Gattonside House

Gattonside House was originally built c.1810. James Brown (died 1816), a coffee planter in Jamaica who also owned the Bryan's Hill estate at the end of his life, lived there for some years to his death. It was then sold by his sons,

James Mellor Brown James Mellor Brown (1796–1867) was a British cleric, known as a scriptural geologist. Early life He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, the son of James Brown (died 1816) of Gattonside House, a planter in Jamaica, and his wife Ann Mellor; Abner Wil ...

and Abner William Brown. Between 1821 and 1824 Gattonside House was the home of

Sir Adam Ferguson Sir Adam Ferguson (1770–1854) was deputy keeper of the regalia in Scotland. Life Ferguson was born on 21 December 1770, the first son of Professor Adam Ferguson. Ferguson is recorded attending the Royal High School, Edinburgh in 1777. At both ...

, Deputy Keeper of the Scottish Regalia and close friend of Sir Walter Scott. The Gattonside estate was bought around 1825 by George Bainbridge (died 1844), a Liverpool merchant in the West Indies trade, and the house occupied by his son George Cole Bainbridge (1788–1839). George Cole Bainbridge had married in 1808 Jane Hobson (died 1822), daughter of Richard Hobson of Shipscarr Lodge, Leeds, and had with her a large family. The house had alterations made, around the same time, by

John Smith of Darnick John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. Sarah Graham Bainbridge (1810–1837), absentee owner of the Lindale estate in Jamaica, died at Gattonside House. She was a first cousin to George Cole Bainbridge, the daughter of John Bainbridge of Lindale; George Bainbridge the elder was a younger brother of John, as sons of Thomas Bainbridge (1717–1799). Around 1850 the house was bought by General Alexander Duncan HEICS. The house was remodelled by Sir

Robert Lorimer Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...

in 1914 and

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

in 1971.

References

{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders