Bassendean is a village in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

area of Scotland, south of Westruther and north-west of

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Gordon Heuck ...

. It is by the

Eden Water Eden Water is a tributary of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders of Scotland. "Water" is the Lowland Scots term for a small river. The Eden Burn rises to the east of Lauder at Corsbie Moor on Boon Farm. The Eden Water passes Bassendean vi ...

in the former

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

, immediately south of the hamlet of Houndslow. The medieval village of Bassendean declined in the 17th century, and only a ruined church now remains of the settlement. The church, dedicated to St Mary, was established in the 12th century. Disused after the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process whereby Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke away from the Catholic Church, and established the Protestant Church of Scotland. It forms part of the wider European 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Fr ...

, it was rebuilt in 1647, but was replaced only two years later by a new church at Westruther. It subsequently became the burial ground for the Homes of Bassendean. Bassendean House has been the seat of the

Homes A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

of Bassendean since 1583. Only a fragment of the original

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

remains, although the 17th-century house is still in domestic occupation. The house and the ruins of the church are both protected as Category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

s. During the 1830s, the

Colonial Secretary of Western Australia The colonial secretary of Western Australia was one of the most important and powerful public offices in Western Australia, in the time when Western Australia was a British colony. The colonial secretary was the representative of the British Col ...

Peter Broun Peter Nicholas Broun (17 August 1797 – 5 November 1846), known for most of his life as Peter Nicholas Brown, was the first Colonial Secretary of Western Australia, and a member of Western Australia's first Legislative Council. Early life Pet ...

, who had ancestral ties to Berwickshire, gave the name ''Bassendean'' to his homestead near

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. By the 1920s, the surrounding suburb had also become known Bassendean and was officially renamed.

References

* Coventry, M. (2001) ''The castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. *

MacGibbon and Ross David MacGibbon (2 April 1831 – 20 February 1902) and Thomas Ross (10 November 1839 – 4 December 1930) were Scottish architects. Their practice, MacGibbon and Ross was established in 1872 and continued until 1914. They are best known today f ...

(1887–92), ''The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries''. Edinburgh

External links

Syllabus of Scottish Cartularies: Coldstream
{{Authority control Houses in the Scottish Borders Former populated places in Scotland Category B listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed churches in Scotland Listed houses in Scotland

See also

References

External links