AN historic building in the grounds of a Scottish country house needs urgent repairs after being battered by Storm Eowyn last month.
The Bothy is a category B-listed building on the south-west corner of the walled gardens at category A-Listed Swinton House, on the outskirts of the village of Swinton near Duns in Berwickshire.
It was already in a state of disrepair when storm winds ripped through it on January 21.
Now a planning application has been submitted to Scottish Borders Council to reinstate the structure after consent was given to enact emergency repairs in order to stabilise it.
Back in December 2022, SBC had granted the change of use of The Bothy, with alterations and extension to form holiday let accommodation.
However, this work will no longer go ahead and instead, with only insurance-related repairs to address the storm damage proposed under this new application.
A report with the latest application states: “The storm/high winds have twisted the existing main roof structure outwards forcing the solid stone gable to collapse.
“The roof has also pushed a section of the west elevation stone wall outwards which was clearly visible as evidenced by the wall bulging and displaying significant cracking.
“Repairs are required to address the damage to the affected walls and roof following the storm incident.
“Due to the nature and extent of the storm damage and the potential for instability of some of the materials, it may be necessary to locally remove and replace some materials where they pose a health and safety or structural issue for repair and reinstatement works.
“Where possible, any historic materials will be cleaned and reinstated to their original location.
“Where historic materials pose a health and safety issue, or contain deleterious material, or have become so severely damaged as to be unrepairable, then these materials will be replaced to safely match the existing material, style and colour of those that currently exist.
“The remedial works concentrate on The Bothy only and no works are planned to the main house or other buildings or structures on within the curtilage of Swinton House.”
Swinton House forms the core of the estate of Swinton, which for around nine centuries was in the hands of the Swinton family, who were responsible for the building of the structures which still survive here.
The existing Swinton House replaced an earlier structure which burned down in 1797.
Dated 1800, it is a two-storeyed structure built in the Neo-Classical style using ashlar masonry. There is an adjoining wing on the west side which may represent a surviving portion of the earlier structure.
