The Crook Inn is an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

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 Lot ...

, near the village of

Tweedsmuir Tweedsmuir ( gd, Sliabh Thuaidh) is a village and civil parish in Tweeddale, the Scottish Borders Council district, southeastern Scotland. Geography The village is set in a valley, with the rolling hills and burns on both sides, covering some ...

on the

A701 road The A701 is a major road in Scotland that runs from Dumfries to Edinburgh. Route The A701 leaves Dumfries and travels north to meet the A74(M) east of Beattock. It then passes beneath the A74(M) before continuing to the north-east towards ...

between Broughton and

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town ...

. It is one of many claimants to be the oldest inn in Scotland. It was licensed in 1604.

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who ha ...

wrote "Willie Wastle's Wife" there. It has served as a coaching inn, a Post Office and source of employment. In the early 20th century a halt was built on the

Talla Railway The Talla Railway was a privately constructed railway line in southern Scotland. It was built 1895-97 to aid the construction of the Talla Reservoir, to serve the water demand of Edinburgh. The railway was about long, running south from a conne ...

to serve it. The inn attracted much passing trade from the labourers who were building the

Talla Reservoir Talla Reservoir, located a mile from Tweedsmuir, Scottish Borders, Scotland, is an earth-work dam fed by Talla Water. The reservoir is supplemented by water from the nearby Fruid Reservoir. It was opened in 1905. To assist in bringing the ...

, which the railway was built to serve. The hotel was refurbished in 1936 in the then-current

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style, and retains many of the features installed at that time. It has also, over the years, become a place of pilgrimage for members of the

Porteous family The Porteous family is a Scottish Borders armigerous family. History The earliest records for members of the Porteous family in Peeblesshire date back to the early part of the fifteenth century. The earliest possible reference, according to Lo ...

, visiting the site of nearby Hawkshaw, their former ancestral home on the hills above Tweeddale and the

Fruid Reservoir Fruid is a small reservoir in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, UK, near Menzion. It is formed by damming the Fruid Water, and supplements the contents of Talla Reservoir, forming part of the water supply for Edinburgh. The construction o ...

. A reunion of Porteous family members was traditionally held at the inn every five years, attracting visitors from all over the world. The proposals to convert the historic inn into apartments met with much local opposition and the plans were rejected by the councillors of Tweeddale West in March 2008. Following refusal the present owner lodged an appeal with the Department for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA), a department of the Scottish Government. On 2 February 2009, following an appeal hearing on 18 November 2008, a decision notice was issued by the DPEA which finally dismissed the appeal. This meant that planning permission was not granted for the change of use of the historic Crook Inn to residential accommodation, giving scope for the inn to reopen once again if it could be purchased. In January 2013, after a lengthy campaign by the Tweedsmuir community to secure ownership of the Crook Inn in order to reinvigorate it, the Tweedsmuir Community Company raised the asking price of £160,000 and bought the property. The Tweedsmuir Community Company obtained a Development Grant from Big Lottery in 2014 to redesign and renovate the historic Crook Inn, with designs undertaken by WTArchitecture, Edinburgh. The plans obtained planning permission in 2015. The rest of the land at the site was purchased in 2015 with grants from the Scottish Land Fund, SSE Clyde Border and the Infinis Glenkerie Community Funds. Grants are being sought to create a multi-faceted Crook Inn Community Hub to serve the Upper Tweed community and tourism. Since then nothing has happened and the building continues to deteriorate. It is listed on the

Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland The Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland records buildings of national architectural or historic interest which are considered to be under threat. The list is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland (HES). The register was established in 1 ...

References

External links

Official siteInformation-Britain
* ttp://www.peeblesshirenews.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=815&format=html News story from the ''Peeblesshire News'' {{coord, 55.5236, -3.4094, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Hotels in the Scottish Borders Tourist attractions in the Scottish Borders 17th-century establishments in Scotland Hotels established in the 17th century Art Deco architecture in Scotland Tweeddale

See also

References

External links