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 Lot ...

. It is located north of

Melrose Melrose may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Melrose, Scottish Borders, a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland ** Melrose Abbey, ruined monastery ** Melrose RFC, rugby club Australia * Melrose, Queensland, a locality in the South Burnet ...

, on the north side of the River Tweed. In 1143, the lands of Gattonside were granted to the monks of Melrose Abbey by King David I. Gattonside was the home of modernist architect Peter Womersley (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 I ...

. 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 Harmony Hall may refer to: NRHP-listed buildings in the United States * Harmony Hall (Hampden, Maine), a 1929 religious and civic building * Harmony Hall (Fort Washington, Maryland), part of the National Capital Parks-East system * Jacob Sloat Hous ...

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, 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 in 1914 and listed in 1971.

References

{{authority control Villages in the Scottish Borders