SPW042482 SCOTLAND (1933). Siverbuthall House. An oblique aerial photograph. This image has been produced from a damaged negative.

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Details

Title [SPW042482] Siverbuthall House. An oblique aerial photograph. This image has been produced from a damaged negative.
Reference SPW042482
Date 1933
Link Canmore Collection item 1257944
Place name
Parish HAWICK
District ROXBURGH
Country SCOTLAND
Easting / Northing 350393, 615790
Longitude / Latitude -2.784049454582, 55.433464002417
National Grid Reference NT504158

Pins

The site of the 1970s built Stirches housing estate. The name of the area is a corruption of 'Stirkshaw,' which itself derives from the Old English 'stirk' a thicket or bush, and 'shaw' a dwelling by the wood. Several farmsteads took the name 'Stirkshaw' which over later centuries had softened to 'Stretches.' The current housing estate (built between 1973 and 1977) and country house take their name from the anglicised form of 'Stirches.'

Project Hawick
Wednesday 12th of February 2014 01:52:52 PM
field 1007 of http://maps.nls.uk/view/82904652 also seen in spw042483

slowcoach
Saturday 23rd of November 2013 12:59:46 AM
First two houses on Raeson park.

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 08:23:03 AM
No 1 & 3 Stirches Road

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 08:06:47 AM
Broomlands House

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 08:04:02 AM

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 08:03:14 AM
Stables belonging to Sillerbit Hall, demolished c1945.

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 07:51:24 AM
This tennis court? is alongside a house known as the Manse (demolished).

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 07:49:40 AM
The Limes. Still standing today in the Silverbuthall estate

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 07:48:36 AM
Hazelwood House. Still standing in the Silverbuthall housing estate.

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 07:47:43 AM
Sillerbit Hall. The area is known as Silverbuthall. Demolished c1945

Graeme
Sunday 17th of November 2013 07:45:14 AM
Is this a Scottish Castle?

historyfan
Thursday 8th of August 2013 04:47:55 PM

BigglesH
Sunday 7th of July 2013 02:03:47 AM

BigglesH
Sunday 7th of July 2013 02:02:40 AM
Another house.

BigglesH
Sunday 7th of July 2013 02:01:27 AM
Tennis court ?

Muc
Sunday 30th of June 2013 10:18:31 PM

User Comment Contributions

This area of Hawick was previously known as the 'Easter Heip', a name in use since the mid-17th century to describe the surrounding estate. During the 18th century, the 'Silverbuthall' name came into use - which refers to the location of Wilton Parish's archery targets or 'butts', and the tradition of having a silver arrow as a competition prize. The name was corrupted over time, shown in various records as 'Sillerbithaa' or 'Sillerbit Ha', to become Silverbuthall.



Sillerbit Hall itself, was a large mansion house built on farm land, bought by Thomas Laidlaw (tweed manufacturer and owner of William Laidlaw & Sons), from Walter Wilson in 1861. It was designed in a Scots Baronial style by John Thomas Rochead, who was also responsible for Hillhead House, Langlands Park, Hawick Corn Exchange (now the site of the Heritage Hub), Heronhill, Thornwood House (now the Mansfield House Hotel) and Saint Andrew's Free Church on North Bridge Street. The house was constructed between 1863 and 1866, with a new driveway created along what is now Churchill Road. The Rochead-designed gate house and piers still stand today on Havelock Street - the yellow sandstone piers with indents where the large wrought iron gates were once held into place. During WWI, the mansion was used by Belgian refugees. The sprawling hillside estate was bought by Hawick Town Council in 1945, with the mansion demolished a year later, being affected greatly by dry rot. A window panel from the house survives in Hawick Museum, whilst stained glass representations of William Of Deloraine and Henry Of Cranstoun (both fictional characters in Walter Scott novels) were saved and until recently were on display at Drumlanrig's Tower. Hawick Museum also holds a wedge-shaped perforated hammer of rough surfaced sandstone, which was found on the estate by J. Anderson and G. F. Black, in 1888.



Silverbuthall estate helped to solve Hawick's post-WWII housing shortage. The first 90 ''prefab' homes were erected between 1945 and 1947, with more built in the following years - compensating for a lack of natural building materials available at the time. Prefabricated homes were a specialist dwelling manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that could be easily shipped and assembled. They consisted of a mixture of 'Arco' and 'Uni-Seco' types. The 'Arco' was developed and constructed by Taylor Woodrow, as an asbestos-clad kitchen and bathroom capsule. It had a longer utility life, but came with a higher cost of construction per unit. Produced by the London based Selection Engineering Company Ltd., the 'Uni-Seco' was a two-bedroom flat-roofed bungalow, with a resin-bonded plywood timber-frame and asbestos wall sections. It was based on a military wartime office design, with an additional lounge and side door. The last of Hawick's prefabs were demolished in the early 1960s, with the completion of new housing stock at Howdenbank.

Project Hawick
Wednesday 12th of February 2014 01:49:46 PM
Great work! I'm happy to validate this identification and I'll pass on the news to get its location updated and our records changed. This one has been puzzling a lot of people for a long time - me included!



Thanks again,



Brian Wilkinson

Britain From Above Activity Officer (Scotland

Brian Wilkinson
Wednesday 15th of January 2014 11:39:55 AM
These houses are on an area of Hawick known as Silverbuthall. Stirches road runs across the top left of the picture with the houses to the Noth East of the road. The photo is taken looking approx West. OS 1:2500 1898 map shows the area clearly.



Google earth has a 1945 image showing the prefabs built on the area surrounding the main house following demolition.

Graeme
Sunday 24th of November 2013 12:04:29 PM
Well spotted Graeme! This one's been bugging me, and probably several other people, for some time.

Tony D
Sunday 17th of November 2013 01:23:13 PM
Well spotted Graeme. How different it looks to other parts of Hawick might explain why it took so long to be identified. But now we can see there is (nearly?) an overlap between this image spw042482 and spw042483 with the hedges either side of field 1007 of http://maps.nls.uk/view/82904652 in both images

slowcoach
Saturday 23rd of November 2013 12:58:24 AM
Yes well done Graeme, I was getting obsessed with this!

James Chandler
Sunday 24th of November 2013 12:04:29 PM
Could this be Hartrigge House, Jedburgh.



The house and terrain looks similar but I am not able to identify the other buildings apart from what looks like the stable block on the right.



The house was demolished in the fifties but the stable block still exists.

Graeme
Monday 11th of November 2013 08:15:09 PM
Hullo folks,



This image is labelled "Hawick", along with the following glass plates that do show the town, in the Aerofilms Ltd Register. Whilst I agree with the clearly "Scottish Baronial" style, and whilst there are/were areas of woodland with these sorts of shapes in the landscape around Hawick, is there any chance it could be Irish? I only ask because the preceeding images in the sequence are in Ireland, and these few Scottish shots are then followed by Channel Islands images.



Most likely it's somewhere in the Scottish Borders.



Yours, Katy

Katy Whitaker
Thursday 12th of September 2013 05:18:10 PM
This is Aldourie Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. It's been extended somewhat to the right since this photo was taken.

Tiny Tim
Tuesday 3rd of September 2013 12:07:22 AM
I'm not sure that it is. There is certainly some resemblance in the building, but I don't see how the surrounding trees, buildings and parkland match the relevant area.

Tony D
Monday 2nd of September 2013 10:55:50 PM
This is a similar castle to that which is unlocated but I am not convinced that they are the same. When you look at the detail of the castle there are differences. I am not convinced that the wing on the right would have been built since the date of the photo. There are houses quite close in the unlocated photo which are not present at Aldourie Castle. There is no evidence of the loch in the unlocated photo. I think that , unfortunately, the unlocated photo is not Aldourie Castle.

Class31
Monday 2nd of September 2013 11:25:20 PM
It seems I've got a lot to learn about Scots Baronial architecture; The balustraded tower with cupola alongside is a common motif in this style, and appears in many Scottish castles. Yes folks, I've got it wrong. Sorry.

Tiny Tim
Tuesday 3rd of September 2013 12:07:22 AM
Shandon House, Gare Loch?

lld01
Thursday 20th of June 2013 09:43:12 PM
I don't think so - the trees and other features are wrong. I imagine this building is now either demolished or severely derelict - surely it would be a major attraction if still in existence. From the surrounding images, you might guess that this is in the Hawick area. Are there any details in the Aerofilms records that might help us?

Tony D
Thursday 20th of June 2013 09:43:12 PM
I think that this is known as Scottish Baronial Architecture which might help anyone trying to identify this photo.

Class31
Wednesday 14th of November 2012 10:17:47 PM
Threave in a former shape?

Neojacobite
Saturday 25th of August 2012 06:01:26 PM
Castle Douglas?

Neojacobite
Saturday 25th of August 2012 05:59:59 PM
Wonderful Scots-Baronial house - very distinctive.

Matthew Beckett - The Country Seat
Sunday 1st of July 2012 08:56:34 PM
A very beautiful building

whit3star
Thursday 28th of June 2012 09:02:41 PM