Description

Early and earlier 19th century; refurbished 1990-5 (see NOTES). Traditional former inn (now converted for commercial and residential use) with 3-storey W range, single-storey and attic N range, and single-storey E range lining courtyard. Roughly coursed whinstone rubble with polished and droved yellow sandstone ashlar dressings. Eaves course to W range only. Irregular fenestration with tabbed ashlar margins and projecting cills. Gablehead and wallhead stacks.

W RANGE: W elevation with low steps and ramp to multi-pane timber-panelled door with side lights and tripartite fanlight in pilastered, corniced architrave to left; concave recess to right of otherwise blank ground floor; 5 unevenly spaced bays to upper storeys, the left-hand windows bipartite and stone-mullioned. 2-bay, symmetrical, gabled S elevation. 6 unevenly spaced bays to E (courtyard) elevation: steps to multi-pane-glazed, timber-panelled door in corniced architrave to left; N wing advanced to right. 4-storey, gabled N elevation adjoining N wing, with recessed stone step to central timber door. Irregular fenestration.

N RANGE: Irregular fenestration to N elevation with segmental-arched pend to right, and central doorway and nepus gable with gablehead stack. Irregular fenestration to S (courtyard) elevation with central door, segmental-arched pend to left, 2 piended dormers breaking eaves, and canted, corbelled oriel dormer breaking eaves to right.

E RANGE: Single-storey, piend-roofed block, attached to N range, with hanging, sliding doors to broad workshop openings in W and E elevations; door and window to left of W (courtyard) elevation.

Multi-pane glazing (some lying pane to W range) in timber sash-and-case windows. Grey slate roof. Ashlar-coped, kneelered skews. Ashlar cope and dressings to stacks with some octagonal and some circular buff clay cans.

Statement of Interest

B-Group comprises Nos 1-4 Tower Dykeside and Drumlanrig's Tower.

An early- and earlier-19th-century former hotel and its ancillary structures, including a former stable block, which form a strong group at the heart of Hawick and are historically important within the town.

The buildings were originally attached to Drumlanrig's Tower (listed separately), which was previously listed jointly with them. The Tower was used as a coaching inn from around 1770 onwards, later known as the Tower Hotel, and it is for this function that the structures on Tower Dykeside were presumably built. In 1939 a new ballroom was installed at the premises by J P Alison and Hobkirk; this is thought to have been in the ground floor of 1 Tower Dykeside. The buildings remained a hotel until 1981 and were sold to Roxburgh District Council in 1985.

The extensive refurbishment in 1990-5, by Jocelyn M Cunliffe of Gray, Marshall Associates for the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, involved the demolition of the linking elements between the Tower and the Tower Dykeside buildings, which are now completely separate - the tower housing a museum and public information centre, whilst the Tower Dykeside structures now contain a Citizens' Advice Bureau on the ground floor of the west range and Council-owned flats and office spaces in the remainder. The interiors have been entirely modernised and do not retain any original features. List description revised following resurvey (2008).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17835167

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  Specifications for Building Conservation: Volume 1: External Structure: Practical Examples v. 2
• 
  Derbyshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)