Leyden's Cottage, Denholm

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

The cottage is built on a long rectangular plan of eight irregular bays and the two bays at the southwest end are slightly taller. The ground levels follow the topography of the gently sloping site. The cottage is rendered and painted random rubble on rough rubble foundations and it has smooth rendered and painted window and door margins. The main entrance door is at the centre and there is a carved granite commemorative plaque to John Leyden imbedded within the wall to the left of the door. The door at the northeast end leads to a pend which provides access to the rear of the property. The rear elevation has an irregular window pattern.

There are low boundary walls built of stone with a cope enclosing the front garden ground. There is a small section of wall attached to the rear elevation.

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

The interior was seen in 2017 and contains a significant amount of 18th and 19th century detailing. There are droved stone fire surrounds, some with added timber mantles, dating to the 18th century. The thick internal cross walls that separated the former cottages still survive and there are deep window cills. There are six-panel timber doors. There is an early 21st century staircase leading to a single room in the converted roof space which has eleven exposed 18th century rough-sawn, timber-pegged roof trusses. The pend has boarded doors at each end, a cobbled floor with inset drain, remnants of wall plaster, and a stone fire surround in the gable of the roof space above.