Selkirk Road Kingsknowes Hotel Galashiels, Scotland

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Kingsknowes is a fine example of a Scots Baronial mansion by William Hay (1818-1888). It is a prestigious and prominently sited house, executed in eclectic decorative styles with very fine stone detailing and a particularly fine example of a contemporary conservatory by Mackenzie and Moncur. The design demonstrates a vigorous silhouette of towers, turrets and stacks with the interior detailing of equal quality believed to have been carried out by Italian craftsmen. The design was exhibited at the RSA, 1868. Kingsknowes was completed shortly after Hay's return from N America, where he had spent 20 years working on varied projects, and is one of his more elaborate designs demonstrating the eclectic qualities that he would go on to develop further when he set up in practice with George Henderson in 1877 to form Hay & Henderson. Commissioned by the mill owner Adam Lees Cochrane of Netherdale Mill to be built on the high ground to the SW overlooking the mill complex in the river valley. The diminutive gothic styled Kingsknowes Lodge (see separate listing) was built as the gate lodge to the N and incorporates the carved stone gateway of the main house entrance linking the two. The lodge is now cut off from the main house by a new road; however it remains a linking element between Kingsknowes House and the Netherdale Mill site. The conservatory is a very fine example of an exquisite and intricate design by MacKenzie and Moncur, the prominent firm producing cast-iron structures in the later 19th century. It is in good unaltered condition having undergone a renovation scheme in 2005. Cochrane is alleged to have subscribed to MacKenzie & Moncur's Catalogue of Horticultural Buildings (1907). H R Tarbolton (1869-1947), who took over the firm of Hay and Henderson when Henderson died in 1905, is known to have carried out unspecified works to Kingsknowes House some time between 1905 and 1911. A contemporary stepped terraced garden to the (SE) faces onto the River Tweed and ensures open views of Kingknowes house from the surrounding area. The approach to the house has been compromised by a later 20th century housing development now sited where the original extensive range of glass houses were sited to the NW (evident on 1930s map).