Ivy Cottage

Ivy Cottage, 1958.

   The survival of many thatched cottages until well into the twentieth century perhaps partially explains why Yetholm has been so well photographed. Several such images are well known, but I recently discovered the one shown above on the website of Falkirk Community Trust. It was taken by John Peat Munn in 1958, who was clearly visiting the area at that date and the old cottage must have caught his eye. Further details about him and the image can be found HERE.

   We do, in fact, have another photograph of this cottage, which can be found in the RCAHMS volume for Roxburghshire, and which is viewable on the Canmore website - HERE. It is good, however, to have this better quality colour image.

   The RCAHMS volume describes the cottage, known as 'Ivy Cottage', as 'an oblong house of two storeys, built of harled rubble without dressings. There is an oval stone above the entrance bearing the initials of Peter Lamb and the date 1775. On the ground floor there are two rooms and a central staircase, while the upper floor contains three bedrooms. The overall dimensions are 43 ft by 19 ft 10 in.' There are several records for members of the Lamb family in Town Yetholm in the 18th and 19th centuries, though 'Peter Lamb' remains obscure.

   Ivy Cottage was sited immediately in front of the Mission Hall, which now houses Yetholm Heritage Centre - the Mission Hall, with its corrugated iron roof, can just be glimpsed on the left of the photo. Sadly, the photograph must have been taken shortly before the cottage's demolition - one of many in the village which were destroyed in the 1960s. Olde worlde charm was no defense against the march of progress! Few now remember the building. Robin Butler recalls it as the home of Jock Allan, a clever, mechanical-minded man, who built himself an electric generator, which was used by villagers to recharge their radio batteries during the Second World War.

Doug Turnbull, who sadly recently died, has a short description of the Allan family in his chapter 'Auld Yetholm in the 1930s and 1940s' in Byegone Yethom, published by YHS in 2006:

'In front of it [the Mission Hall] stood the thatched house in which the Allans lived. John Allan was a postman and also a saddler and a very clever engineer. Jock, May and Tommy Allan were good play-mates pre-war. Jock was older than me and a very clever chap with his hands. If Jock had been educated and trained he would have gone places - a good mind wasted!'

Who knows, Jock may well have approved of the buildings which replaced his cottage - see below - which may not have the attractiveness of the old thatched cottage, but which have electricity and all other mod-cons. One wonders what became of the date-stone above the door. Perhaps one day it will be discovered under the earth when the current buildings are eventually demolished.

The site of Ivy Cottage today.