ABBOTSVIEW CONVALESCENT HOME, GALASHIELS (demolished)  The Abbotsview Convalescent Home was run by the Co-operative Society prior to the Second World War.

It was adapted from a two-storey house, formerly called Lynhurst, next to the larger Kingsknowes House near the railway line to the south-east of Galashiels. A large extension was built to the south.

During the Second World War it took evacuated children from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh. The home survived until the early 1980s, but was demolished to make way for a housing development. The site is now occupied by the houses in Abbotsview Drive, although a small inter-war lodge remains amongst the newer housing. Neighbouring Kingsknowes House is still standing and is currently a hotel.

ANDERSON SANATORIUM, HAWICK (demolished)   Established by Roxburgh County Council on hilly ground to the north of Hawick with a fine southerly exposure, this sanatorium was located in a domestic house to which ward wings of timber construction were added, linked to the house by enclosed corridors. The architects were Dick, Peddie and McKay, and the sanatorium opened in 1911. The sanatorium was variously known as the Anderson Sanatorium after Thomas Anderson who left funds to found a hospital locally, and Howdenbank Sanatorium after the name of the house at the core of the hospital.

After 1948 it became a fever hospital, and in 1950 a maternity unit was established here. It closed around 1958 and the buildings demolished in the 1960s or 70s. (see also Project Hawick on Facebook which has a full history of the sanatorium)

BORDERS DISTRICT GENERAL HOSPITAL, GALASHIELS This large general hospital opened in 1988. It was designed by the Edinburgh architectural practice of Reiach & Hall.

COLDSTREAM COTTAGE HOSPITAL   Built in 1888 the hospital was set up due mainly to the benefactions of the Earl of Hume.

It was designed by John McLachlan, who had earlier designed the cottage hospital at Hawick, and converted Viewfield house in Selkirk into a hospital.

It was officially opened on 29 December 1888, and then comprised four wards, two each side of the central entrance. To the left were general wards with three beds each, one of them also having a child’s cot, while to the right were the Glen Douglas wards, with three and two beds for fever cases. These last were the gift of Mr and Mrs Cunningham of Glen Douglas. Adjoining the fever wards were the wash-house, offices and a nurses’ room. Bedrooms for the matron and a nurse were provided upstairs. 

COUNTY ISOLATION HOSPITAL, HAWICK   The county infectious diseases hospital for Roxburgh comprised the usual administration block with linked ward pavilions to which a cubicle block was added in the 1930s.

A fever hospital had been established near by at Howdenburn in about the 1890s (east of the sanatorium, and later Brenlands house), this closed when the new hospital opened (by 1917). The hospital was outlined for closure by the 1940s, it became Burnfoot Primary School Annexe. the buildings were still extant in about 2008.

COUNTY ISOLATION HOSPITAL, ANGRAFLAT, KELSO  (demolished) Built as the district fever hospital in the early 1900s.

The hospital was used to accommodate residents from the poorhouse in 1934 after a fire there. Once this temporary arrangement had come to an end the buildings were kept on a care and maintenance basis. In 1954 they were taken over by the Red Cross and opened as the Queen’s House, a home for the elderly. The old buildings were replaced by a new care home which opened in 2001. The lodge of the former hospital survives. (Sources: queenshousehome.co.uk)

COUNTY ISOLATION HOSPITAL, NEWSTEAD, MELROSE   This was a small local authority infectious diseases hospital providing 16 beds.

It closed in 1941 and was kept on a care and maintenance basis for some time following its closure. It comprised a central administration block and three small ward blocks.

DINGLETON HOSPITAL, MELROSE   Built as the Roxburgh, Berwick & Selkirk District Asylum, it was begun in 1869 and was designed by Brown & Wardrop to accommodate 124 patients.

The asylum opened in May 1872, replacing a private asylum at Milholme, near Musselburgh, which had been licensed for pauper lunatics on a temporary basis until the new District Asylum was built.

In 1898 a new female hospital block was added and in 1900 a new laundry was provided. Two new wings were built in 1905‑6 designed by Sydney Mitchell and Wilson.

A new Nurses home was constructed in 1955. The hospital closed in 2001, and the following year planning permission was granted for conversion into flats. {Previously I had erroneously attributed Dingleton Hospital to Peddie & Kinnear, they may have been unsuccessful competition entrants.} [Sources: Galashiels Local History Library/R21/31.4; booklet on centenary of the hospital, ‘Dingleton 1872‑1972’ ]

DRUMLANRIG HOSPITAL, HAWICK   Formerly the Poorhouse for Roxburgh County, it was built c.1857.

It is an austere two‑storey building, but is given interest by the contrasting red sandstone used for dressings, the lying‑pane window pattern and the simple classical doorpiece. It was used as a fever hospital during a typhoid epidemic in Hawick. Drumlanrig Hospital was declared surplus to requirements in 1996 and since about 2001 has been on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Restoration works were reported as ongoing in 2009-11. The workhouse has since been converted to housing, as Nos 1-10 Drumlanrig Mews (see also workhouses.org)

EASTLANDS HOSPITAL, EASTLANDS ROAD, GALASHIELS Built in 1873-4 as an infectious diseases hospital by the Town Council close to Eastlands cemetery. When work had just commenced on the site, a severe gale blew down the wooden site office and blew away the plans.

The need for a larger hospital was keenly felt during an outbreak of scarlet fever in 1913, when Eastlands had to turn patients away. It was superseded by the Sanderson Hospital which opened in 1924 (see below). The Council then commissioned J. & J. Hall, architects, to draw up plans to convert the hospital into two dwelling houses.  [Sources: The Southern Reporter, 6 March 1873, p.2; 18 Dec 1873, p.2; 9 Jan 1913, p.3; 16 Oct 1924, p.5]

GALASHIELS COTTAGE HOSPITAL, TWEED ROAD   Latterly Galavale House, a home for people suffering from mental illness. Subscriptions were being raised for a cottage hospital in Galashiels in 1891. Originally it was intended to be for accident cases, but in the end it took in medical and surgical cases, but not paupers.  Built to designs by John Wallace of Edinburgh, the hospital was formally opened by the Earl of Dalkeith in November 1893.

The plan below was not as executed, only the front wards were built so at first there were just two wards with six beds each, and two single wards for private patients.

As built, the hospital comprised an appealing small scale building. The wide single‑storey centrepiece of the main block has generous roofs with dormers and the eaves are supported on cast‑iron columns to give a verandah. The wards in the projecting outer bays are lit by broad bay windows. A small nurses home was built on the site with thirteen bedrooms in 1929-30 to designs by the local architects J. & J. Hall. In 1938 extensions were built, in sympathetic style, to the south-west (Hume Ward) and north.

Around the time that the hospital was transferred to the NHS in 1948 it developed into a maternity unit. It closed for a time, before re-opening as a rehabilitation unit for people with long-term mental health problems. Plans were in hand in 2015 to relocate services to Crumhaugh House, the former community hospital in Hawick which closed around 2013 but had failed to attract a buyer when it was put on the market.  [Sources: The Builder, 18 June 1892, p.480; Building News, 24 Nov. 1893, p.703: Border Telegraph, 18 August 2015 accessed online 16 April 2016.]

GALASHIELS POORHOUSE   This standard style and plan poorhouse was designed by James C. Walker of Edinburgh in 1859.

(On the OS map of 1930 it is marked as Windyknowe, Poor Law Institution) It has now {1990} been adapted into a home for the elderly. [Sources:Scottish Record Office, plans, RHP 30874/1‑27. See also workhouses.org]

GORDON HOSPITAL   Situated to the east of Gordon, by Eden Plantation, it was built as the local authority infectious diseases hospital for Berwickshire, and had opened by 1914. The oldest buildings on the site were of wood and corrugated‑iron, probably constructed by Speirs & Co. Later two brick‑built ward blocks were added. These were subsequently converted into geriatric wards before the hospital finally closed.

HAIG MATERNITY HOSPITAL, HAWICK   The hospital opened c.1931 in this converted domestic house. Norman A. Grieve of Branxholme, a local mill owner, had offered to donate £2,000 towards the establishment of a maternity home in 1927, on condition that it should be dedicated to the memory of Earl Haig. The Town Council agreed to accept the offer, and settled on Springbank house as a suitable location. It was then occupied by the Jubilee Nursing Association, Maternity Service, and Child Welfare Schemes, and was thought readily adaptable. Plans were drawn up and adjusted following advice from the Board of Health. The adjoining lodge was converted into accommodation for the previous occupants (and remains a clinic today). Conversion of the main house was completed by the end of November 1930.

An inscription was proposed to be placed on the hospital noting that the home was dedicated to the memory of Field-Marshal Earl Haig, ‘in the hope that this Maternity Home will not only supply a long-felt want in the neighbourhood, but that it will ever remind us of the debt we owe to the Great Soldier, whose steadfast courage and tenacity helped so largely to save the British Empire and Civilisation itself in the darkest hour of their History’. [ref: Hawick News, 28 Nov 1930, p.8]

HAWICK COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, Victoria Road  Opened 2005. Built on the site of Pringle’s Braemar factory in Victoira Road which was demolished in January 2004. The new hospital was built at a cost of £4.5m by Border Construction. [Southern Reporter, 14 July 2005]

HAWICK COTTAGE HOSPITAL   Built by public subscription in 1884, with a bazaar to raise funds, the cottage hospital was designed by John McLachlan. The foundation stone was inscribed: ‘This stone was laid with masonic honours on the 30th August 1884 by the right honourable the Earl of Mar and Kellie the most worshipful the Grand Master Mason of Scotland’. It has a good site on high ground in Buccleuch Street, beyond the bowling greens. It was built in a cottage style with elaborately carved wooden gable decoration. The contractors were: Lambert & Miller, masons; John Brunton, joiner; Walter Grieve & Co, slater and plumber; Messrs Davidson, plasterwork.

In 1926 the Minto Wing was opened by Edward Prince of Wales which was gifted by Lady Violet Astor. In 1933, x‑ray apparatus was donated by Sir T. Henderson’s widow. The hospital has closed in 2005, and was on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland from 2009. It has now been acquired as part of the Borders College Hawick Campus (Sources: Southern Reporter, 8 May 1884, p.3)

HAY LODGE, PEEBLES   The substantial domestic house of Hay Lodge, built c.1800, has a prime site above the river Tweed. It was converted into a hospital with smart new extensions built since 1960.

INCH HOSPITAL, KELSO (now Kelso Community Hospital)   Inch Hospital was originally Kelso Union Poorhouse, built c.1854.

The single-range, unusual in most of Scotland, is similar to the poorhouses at Hawick (see Drumlanrig Hospital, above) and Jedburgh.

In 1934 a fire in the hospital section almost completely destroyed that part of the building and the patients were temporarily moved out to the disused fever hospital then called Angraflat, latterly the Queen’s House. The new hospital section was connected to the rest of the institution by a bridge corridor on the second storey level. (see also workhouses.org)

Major extensions were built in the 1970s-80s, comprising low, single-storey blocks to the south east.

JEDBURGH COTTAGE HOSPITAL (see Sister Margaret Cottage Hospital) 

JEDBURGH POORHOUSE Built around 1851, for a combination of nine parishes including that of Jedburgh.

From the Town Plan (above) of 1858 it appears that an unusually large part of the poorhouse was designed as a chapel, with male and female wards on either side. The former combination poorhouse had been converted into flats by 2001. (Sources: National Archives of Scotland, plans RHP 30862/1-9: see also workhouses.org)

KELSO COTTAGE HOSPITAL   The Cottage Hospital originated with the Kelso Dispensary founded in 1777. This was the second dispensary to be founded in Scotland and the building survives in Roxburgh Street.

The Town Plan of 1857 shows the layout of the ground floor, with a large consulting room occupying one half of the building fronting the street, with a waiting room and surgery on the other side of a central corridor. At the rear  a wing with fever wards had separate access. The present hospital began in 1907 with an assortment of later additions, making the original form of the hospital difficult to distinguish.

The additions include a new out‑patients’ department added in 1968 and day room extensions in 1973. The hospital has since closed and been converted to housing

THE KNOLL HOSPITAL, DUNS   The Knoll cottage hospital is located in a converted domestic house with modern extensions to the rear (1970s-80s). The house is a modest villa of c.1860 with crow‑stepped gables and dormers with some fine cast‑iron work on the parapets over the main entrance and bay window.

KNOWEPARK HOSPITAL, GALASHIELS (demolished)  This former domestic house was owned by Robert Sanderson and acquired by Selkirk County Council in 1933. It was converted into a hospital for the chronic sick and locally designated the poorhouse.

Knowepark Hospital closed in 1987, the remaining patients being transferred to the new Borders General Hospital at Melrose (see above). The building was demolished and the site developed for housing.

MILLERTON FEVER HOSPITAL, AYTON   This small fever hospital was in operation by 1904 and had accommodation for eight beds and four cots. [Sources: Medical Directory, 1904.]

NEWSTEAD HOSPITAL, MELROSE (see County Isolation Hospital, Newstead)

PEEBLES COUNTY HOSPITAL, PEEBLES Now demolished, the hospital was built as the county infectious diseases hospital and had been opened by 1897.

It was of wood and corrugated‑iron construction and was therefore probably supplied by Speirs & Co. of Glasgow. It was later converted into a geriatric unit before it closed c.1984.

PEEBLES HYDRO The second Peebles Hydropathic hotel was designed by James Miller and opened in 1907, replacing an earlier hydropathic establishment on the site.

The accommodation was described in Building News:

At the east end, separated by a passage 12 feet in width, bridged over at the first-floor level, is an annexe which contains the dining-hall with kitchen accommodation, and at the back are other annexes for bedrooms and administrative purposes. Marble has been used for the entrance stair and floor of the main corridor, and the woodwork is of Australian Kauri pine stained. A corridor, 210 feet long and 13ft. wide, runs the length of the building, communicating at the west end with the conservatory, and at the east end with the dining-hall. The recreation-hall is 100 feet long by 40 ft., with stage at one end. The dining-room is pillared, 80 feet. by 40ft., and 18 feet high, with panelled ceiling. The bedrooms, numbering 200, are on the second and two upper floors.

The previous building was a Scots Baronial pile designed by John Starforth and built at huge expense in 1878-81. This burnt down in July 1905.

PEEBLES UNION POORHOUSE, PEEBLES   The poorhouse was designed by William Lambie Moffatt of Edinburgh in 1856. It departed from the standard H‑plan, being simply rectangular with a central dining room and the kitchen to one side.

Moffatt designed many poorhouses in Scotland, including the first Union Poorhouse to be built at Dalkeith. The local newspaper commended the Peebles building for its fitness for purpose in design and appearance, being neat and plain, with high pointed gables ornamenting the skyline. These have since been obscured, as in 1935 the poorhouse building was extensively remodelled with a new front range by Dick Peddie and Walker Todd. It is now used as Council offices. [Sources: Scottish Record Office, plans, RHP 30879/1‑8: Peebles County Newspaper and General Advertiser, 20 Oct 1858. See also workhouses.org]

PEEBLES WAR MEMORIAL HOSPITAL   Three domestic houses by the river Tweed were converted into a small voluntary hospital which opened in 1922.

The site was too low and was liable to flooding, the hospital eventually closed in 1985. It then became a private nursing home.

THE PEEL HOSPITAL, CLOVENFORDS   The mansion house of the Peel was designed by the Edinburgh architect John Kinross. It was one of his important country houses. At the outbreak of the Second World War it was handed over to the Department of Health by its owner Lord Craigmyle for use as an Emergency Medical Scheme hospital. The standard huts were built in the grounds and after the war the hospital continued as a civilian unit. An administration block was built in 1949, new operating theatre in 1957 and new Mortuary and Post‑ Mortem rooms added in 1963. An out‑patients’ department was added in 1969.

The hospital was finally closed in 1988. The mansion house was carefully partitioned to provide accommodation for the hospital staff. This was done so that the house could be restored to its former state with relative ease. When the house was gifted by Lord Craigmyle many items of furniture were included. There was some fine plasterwork within the house and the staircase balustrade was based on one at Kinross House. [Sources: D. Mays, Life and Works of John Kinross unpublished PhD thesis, University of St Andrews.]

SANDERSON HOSPITAL, GALASHIELS  (demolished) Robert Sanderson donated funds for the construction of this infectious diseases hospital for Selkirkshire. It was built in 1924 on the standard plan and of brick to designs by the local architects J. & J. Hall. It replaced Eastlands Hospital, a small isolation hospital built near the cemetery (see above). The first patient was admitted in October 1924, a case of scarlet fever.

In 1964 it became a geriatric assessment unit but closed in 1987. A housing development, Kingsknowes Village, has been built on the site. [Sources: The Southern Reporter, 16 Oct 1924, p.5: The Builder, 1924, vol.127, p.600]

SELKIRK COTTAGE HOSPITAL   Viewfield (sometimes Viewpark) House was a modest Georgian house dating from c.1800, in which Andrew Lang was born.

The original house is an elegant classical style, single‑storey building over a raised basement (listed category C in recognition of its classical detailing and the historic association with Andrew Lang). The symmetry of the principal elevation has been marred by blocking up one of the windows.

It was first converted into the Viewfield Nursing Home in 1885 by John McLachlan. According to J. Blake’s notes on the history of the nursing home, in was run by a Dr Graham in 1921, but due to financial difficulties was sold the following year to the Messes McGregor. By the early 1930s it being run as a cottage hospital.

The house itself was added to and more recently, in 1972, a health centre was built in the grounds linked to the house by a corridor. It not longer operates as a cottage hospital, although the health centre continues in use. Viewfield House is now the Andrew Lang Unit, for the Borders child and adolescent mental health services.

SELKIRK ISOLATION HOSPITAL This small infectious diseases’ hospital built to the north of Selkirk may have already gone out of use in the 1930s, though the buildings survived and by the 1960s the ward block had been converted into a pair of semi-detached houses, and the administration block to the north had become a detached house (‘Forrestfield’).

SISTER MARGARET COTTAGE HOSPITAL, JEDBURGH   Built on the southern outskirts of the town next to the castle and the cemetery. Stone-built on a domestic scale, the hospital was erected in 1896. The cottage hospital was founded and funded by Arthur Macmillan Scott of Pinnaclehall, in memory of his sister. The site was gifted by the Marquis of Lothian. A bazaar was held in the Corn Exchange in October 1896 to raise funds for the hospital’s endowment, attended by ‘a large and fashionable company’. A small single-storey extension added to the rear in 1913.

In 1935 a small maternity ward was added, following a proposal some three years’ earlier. At that time it was also proposed that Boundary Bank House should be used as a maternity home – the house had been purchased around 1930 by the Town Council for the Boundaries housing scheme. The hospital was scheduled for closure in about 2006. (Sources: Edinburgh Evening News, 6 Oct 1896 p.3)

TODLAW HOSPITAL, JEDBURGH (demolished)  This small isolation hospital was in existence by 1897. It had been demolished by the 1960s.

WHITCHESTER COTTAGE HOSPITAL, DUNS   Haymount House was purchased at the turn of the century by Mrs Smith of Witchester and converted into a cottage hospital.

The hospital was opened as Haymount Hospital in 1901. It provided just eight beds, three each in the two principal rooms on the ground floor and two private rooms on the second floor, and was for medical and surgical cases, not infectious diseases. The rest of the house was set apart for the matron and her attendants. Miss Lyall from the Towns Hospital, Glasgow, was the first matron, assisted by two probationer nurses. The management committee of the hospital included Mr and Mrs Smith and the local doctor, Dr MacWatt. It changed its name to Whitchester Cottage Hospital, in memory of Mr Smith of Whitchester who founded the hospital and purchased the villa. It closed in 1981. (Sources: Berwickshire News & General Advertiser, 11 June 1901, p.3)