Description

William Hay, 1874. 2-and 3-storey, irregular-plan, rambling villa consisting of 4-bay principal block to front and offset long 2-storey block to rear. Baronial, Romanesque and Jacobean details, slender entrance tower, large apsidal-ended cast iron conservatory. Situated on a large sloping site surrounded by informal gardens. Squared stugged buff sandstone with ashlar dressings. Base course, first floor string course, eaves cornice. Jacobean strapwork pediments, bay windows with columned mullions.

NORTH (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: irregular fenestration. Off-centre 4-stage tower with crow-stepped cap-house and corner turret. Entrance to base with granite columns and carved over-door.

GARDEN (EAST) ELEVATION: advanced crow-stepped and finialed gables to outer bays with two-storey advanced bay windows; canted to left and square to right.

REAR (WEST) BLOCK: 2-storey block to rear extending N of the principal block. Extended with modern single storey infill behind high wall.

Plate glass and 4-pane timber sash and case windows. Slate roof; fishscale slates to turrets and bays. Shouldered and corniced wallhead and ridge stacks. Cast iron rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: subdivided, but retaining highly decorative interior scheme. Elaborate plasterwork, ceilings, marble and stone chimneypieces, stained glass. Stone stair with unusual foliate wrought iron balustrade.

BOUNDARY WALLS AND GARDEN FEATURES: rubble boundary walls to rear and sides. Low sandstone wall to road. Shouldered stone gateway, dated 1883 in boundary wall. Rubble garden steps and terraces. Dilapidated octagonal timber summerhouse. Stone Sundial.

Statement of Interest

B Group with the former stables (Abbotsknowe) and Abbotshill Lodge.

Abbotshill is one of an important group of mill owners houses in this part of Galashiels. Individually, the house is of considerable interest, with its unusual combination and quality of details. Although the interior has been subdivided, many notable interior features have survived. As with other houses in the area, Abbotsview retains a large and elaborate conservatory of particular quality. These houses are closely related to the growth of the textile industry in Galashiels and reflect the success of the industry at its height in the later 19th century.

From the 1860s mill owners began to move away from houses closer to the mills and commenced the building of a series of ostentatious houses along Abbotsford Road. A number of these houses are built as miniature country estates, with all of the requisite parts, including lodges. Abbotshill was built for Archibald Cochrane, one of the partners in Netherdale mill. A footpath direct from the house to the mill survives as 'Archie's Walk'.

William Hay carried out a variety of work in Galashiels, both on his own and as part of Hay and Henderson from 1877 (St Paul's Church, 1878, extensions to St Peter's 1881) He had previously designed Kingsknowes in 1868 for Adam Lees Cochrane, brother of Archibald.

The stables for Abbotshill were converted to dwellings in the 1930s and are now separately listed as Abbotsknowe. In the late 20th century 2 houses were built in the grounds of Abbotshill.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17853912

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)