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Chirnside (pronounced "Chir-sit") is a hillside village in Berwickshire in Scotland, 9 miles west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and 7 miles east of Duns.
[edit] Notables
Near the kirk once stood a tower-house (demolished 18th century), built by the Earl of Dunbar, once the superior here.
The original Ninewells House, entirely rebuilt by William Burn in 1839-41 for Elizabeth Hume (but tragically demolished in 1964), was the home of the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume.
Chirnside is also the last resting place of Jim Clark, former world champion Formula 1 racing-car driver. A small museum, which is known as The Jim Clark Room, can be found in Duns.
Falkirk F.C. midfielder Liam Craig also comes from Chirnside.
[edit] Church
The parish church at Chirnside dates from the 12th century. It was substantially rebuilt in 1878 and extensively restored and altered in 1907. The rebuildings now incorporate all of the original church(es), however the original chevron-patterned Norman doorway at the west end remains. It has a fine gateway approach.
The Ninewells Doocot, in a garden adjacent to the church, is a 16th century circular beehive type doocot (dovecot). Not far from the manor, stands the impressive Whitehall Doocot, rectangular-planned, and two-chamber, with stone skews defining its monopitched roof.
[edit] Whitehall
Below Chirnside stands the estate of Whitehall, with a Georgian manor house containing Palladian windows, which is a Listed Building. It contains a magificent first floor music room richly decorated in Italian plasterwork. Once owned by the Hall of Dunglass family, William Hall of Whitehall (died circa 1749) was one of the Principal Clerks of the Court of Session. It passed early in the 19th century to Mitchell-Innes of Ayton Castle family who held it until the 1980s. Since then the house and its park have passed through the hands of developers, unhindered by the Scottish Borders Council, and the manor is now (2007) derilect and seriously at risk.
[edit] School
Chirnside Primary School, 1937, by architects Messrs Reid & Forbes, is a rather spectacular piece of architecture epitomising that decade; set into a hillside, and being white, it can be seen for miles around.
[edit] Paper Mill
The Chirnside Bridge Paper Mill, now a large manufacturer, is a survivor from an earlier era. Originally constructed in 1842 and 1857 by David Cousin (also responsible for Dean Cemetery), with additions in 1897, and reductions in 1971–1973. The Italianate administrative block was built as a house for the owner of the mill. There was an earlier mill and house on the site, and the porter's lodge, now a store, is a Gothic octagonal single–storey–and–basement building which probably dates from this period.
[edit] References
- Lost Houses of Scotland, by M.Binney, J.Harris, and E.Winnington, for SAVE Britain's Heritage, London, July 1980, ISBN 0-905978-05-6
- Refer: Borders and Berwick by Charles A Strang, Rutland Press, 1994, ISBN 1-873190-10-7
(Source: Wikipedia) |