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Kelso, Roxburgh Street, Walton Hall
Gateway(S) (Period Unassigned), House (19th Century), Wall (19th Century)
Site Name Kelso, Roxburgh Street, Walton Hall
Classification Gateway(S) (Period Unassigned), House (19th Century), Wall (19th Century)
Canmore ID 96053
Site Number NT73SW 196
NGR NT 72334 34309
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/96053
- Council Scottish Borders, The
- Parish Kelso
- Former Region Borders
- Former District Roxburgh
- Former County Roxburghshire
Built in 1820, Walton Hall lies at the north-western end of Roxburgh Street, and was intended to be a summer residence or fishing lodge for John Ballantyne, the publisher of Sir Walter Scott's many books. Unfortunately Scott's friend never saw the house finished as his health was already failing when work began and he died before it was finished.
Walton Hall is an elegant single-storeyed building, square on plan. The doorway is set within an attractive Classical colonnade, and the whole building has been harled with exposed ashlar dressings. The slated roof has an octagonal cupola which is surmounted by a fish-shaped weathervane. A coach house and stables lie on either side of the house, while at the rear there is a projecting octagonal bay window.
Visitors to Walton Hall would enter into a hallway lit by the cupola, with colonnades running along either side of the room. From here visitors might be taken to the drawing room, an octagonal chamber at the centre of the house with a bay window overlooking the River Tweed which lay at the foot of the garden. Other rooms included bedrooms, each with an adjoining dressing room, and a dining room which featured a colonnade along one wall. Every room in the house has fine plaster mouldings, doors with decorative fingerplates, and ornate fireplaces.
Text prepared by RCAHMS as part of the Accessing Scotland's Past project
NT73SW 196.00 72334 34309
Built 1820, as a fishing lodge.
NT73SW 196.01 72323 34323 Stable Wing
Sbc Note
Visibility: This is an upstanding building.
Information from Scottish Borders Council.
