Leyden's Cottage, Denholm

Leyden's Cottage, dating to before 1775, comprises three original single-storey cottages that have been combined into one dwelling. The cottage was restored in 1896 and has undergone early 21st-century internal alterations. It is the birthplace of John Leyden, a poet and linguist, and sits within a terrace of predominantly 19th-century houses just off the central green in Denholm.

The building follows a long, rectangular plan of eight irregular bays, with the two bays at the southwest end slightly taller. The ground level reflects the gentle slope of the site. The exterior is rendered and painted over random rubble stone walls set on rough rubble foundations; window and door margins are also smooth rendered and painted. The main entrance door is centrally located, and a carved granite commemorative plaque to John Leyden is embedded in the wall to the left of the door. A door on the northeast end leads to a pend, providing access to the rear of the property. The rear elevation features an irregular window pattern.

Low stone boundary walls with a coping stone enclose the front garden ground; a small section of wall is attached to the rear elevation.

The windows are timber sash and case frames with horns and a predominantly 12-pane glazing pattern. The main entrance door is four-panelled timber, and the other doors are vertical boarded timber. The roof is thatched with reed, topped with a turf ridge secured by chicken wire. A thatched eyebrow dormer window is located on the southwest side of the main elevation, with two others to the rear. Two plain, squared, and rendered chimney stacks are irregularly spaced along the ridge.

The interior, inspected in 2017, retains a significant amount of 18th and 19th-century detailing, including droved stone fire surrounds, some with added timber mantles dating to the 18th century. The thick internal cross walls that previously separated the cottages remain, along with deep window cills. Six-panel timber doors are present. A contemporary staircase leads to a single room in the converted roof space, which reveals eleven exposed, 18th-century rough-sawn, timber-pegged roof trusses. The pend has boarded doors at each end, a cobbled floor with an inset drain, remnants of wall plaster, and a stone fire surround in the gable of the roof space.