Eyemouth, Gunsgreen, Pumping Windmill

The following text has been prepared as part of the HES Urban Survey of Eyemouth, 2023-24. This character assessment covers the following two Areas of Townscape Character:

-Eyemouth, Recreation Area of Townscape Character (Holiday Park) (NT96SW 543)

-Eyemouth, Recreation Area of Townscape Character (Golf Course) (NT96SE 41)

The Eyemouth Recreation Area of Townscape Character is split across two areas on the outskirts of Eyemouth, both located on the headlands which flank the beach and harbour. On the eastern headland and forming the eastern boundary of the town, is Eyemouth Golf Course. There are just two roads through this area, with one leading to the clubhouse, while the other goes to the northern point of the headland and gives access to the northern end of the east side of the harbour. On the western headland, just south-west of the remains of Eyemouth’s forts, sits Eyemouth Holiday Park. The park has a series of routes through it, some being dead-ends/cul-de-sacs at the edges of the development. These two areas have been combined into one Area of Townscape Character as both provide leisure facilities for locals and visitors to the town.

Eyemouth Golf Club (NT96SE 35) creates a vast green space on the town’s eastern coastal boundary. The Club was established as a nine-hole course in 1894 and remained so until the mid-1990s when a major redevelopment of the southern portion of the course created the current eighteen-hole course. As part of the redevelopment of the course, a new clubhouse was built to a design by Bain Swan Architects, opening in 1997. From the 1960s until 1997, the clubhouse had occupied part of Gunsgreen House overlooking the harbour to the west of the course. The new facility contains changing rooms, pro shop and a first-floor restaurant and bar giving views over the coastline and the town. At the time of writing (2024), there are plans to build houses on the two fields flanking the road through the middle of the golf course.

The field to the south-west of the golf course used to contain the town’s rugby pitches, but these are no longer operational, with the northern half of the site redeveloped as a group of allotments, maintaining the green space of this area. Plans were approved in 2019 to build a BMX pump track in the southern half of the site and this has been partially developed as can be seen on recent (2024) drone footage of the area (see DP436550 Oblique aerial view from north showing Recreation (Golf Course) and Industrial (Gunsgreenhill Industrial Estate) Areas of Townscape Character, Eyemouth | Canmore).

The north-western section of the Eyemouth Recreation Area contains Eyemouth Holiday Park, a stereotypical seaside caravan park. Plans were drafted for the park in 1948 by Walter Duns Architects, but it seems to have taken until 1954 before the caravan park was operational. It is not shown on the Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 map of 1956, but is marked on the OS 1:2,500 1966 map. There have been several phases of expansion at the park: in 1970, during the 1980s, and more recently in 2011 by its then operators, Parkdean Holidays (Parkdean Resorts since 2015).

Eyemouth Holiday Park displays the main characteristics of a typical British caravan park. It is laid out to maximise accommodation on the clifftop site, with around 350 pitches for static and touring caravans in a fairly low density plan, despite this number of units. The static caravans are clad in aluminium, PVC or timber, and mostly painted in white or cream with an occasional pale green. All are single-storeyed with shallow sloping roofs, though some are propped up in order to make them level on the sloping site and many have fenced verandahs around them. The recent addition (2011) of 31 plots in the south-west of the park mostly comprise larger lodge-style properties. A single-storeyed, flat-roofed, red brick and timber-clad entertainment hub is located at the park’s entrance, which accommodates a bar/restaurant, amusement arcade and a caravan sales office. There is also a small painted timber-clad, single-storeyed reception and security building beyond the security barrier. Elsewhere in the park there is a children’s playpark, outdoor multi-sports court, launderette building, toilet and shower block for tourers, plus assorted single-storeyed ancillary buildings.

More in-depth discussion on the character of 11 further Areas of Townscape Character identified in the town can be found under:

-Eyemouth, Historic Burgh and Harbour Area of Townscape Character (NT96SW 551)

-Eyemouth, Victorian Expansion Area of Townscape Character (NT96SW 549)

-Eyemouth, Inter-War Area of Townscape Character (Hurkur Crescent and Schools) (NT96SW 548)

-Eyemouth, Mid- to Late C20 Area of Townscape Character (The Avenue) (NT96SW 552)

-Eyemouth, Mid- to Late C20 Area of Townscape Character (Barefoots) (NT96SW 544)

-Eyemouth, Mid- to Late C20 Area of Townscape Character (Deanhead) (NT96SW 545)

-Eyemouth, Mid- to Late C20 Area of Townscape Character (Gillsland) (NT96SW 550)

-Eyemouth, Modern Area of Townscape Character (Gunsgreenhill) (NT96SW 553)

-Eyemouth, Modern Area of Townscape Character (Acredale) (NT96SW 546)

-Eyemouth, Industrial Area of Townscape Character (Acredale and Eyemouth Industrial Estates) (NT96SW 547)

-Eyemouth, Industrial Area of Townscape Character (Gunsgreenhill Industrial Estate) (NT96SW 554)

Information from HES (LCK) 30th April 2025

Visibility: Upstanding building, which may not be intact.

Information from Scottish Borders Council