Bank House and Buchans

We cross the road to Bank House, and the old bank to its right.

The reason I show you the photo like this with a big gap at the left is because part of the building that used to be there was demolished in 1975 to allow Cuddy Bridge to be widened. Tomorrow I will show you a photo of how it used to look and I'm sure, like me, you will be saddened at the loss of such a beautiful building. Apparently the red door on the side of the present building, that leads to an apartment upstairs, was once the front door of Bank House, opening on to the High Street.

On the two plaques between the windows on the white facade is the information that Anna Buchan and her brother J. Walter (Buchan), sister and brother of John (39 Steps) Buchan, lived and worked here. In fact their grandfather had lived there before them, working as banker and lawyer, and the Buchan children would visit in school holidays with their parents. James Walter later continued in the business, coming to live in his grandfather's house, while Anna wrote novels under the pseudonym of O. Douglas, and presumably kept house for her unmarried brother. In some of her books she writes about a place called Priorsford, which is in reality Peebles. They are said to be delightful books, though I cannot say personally as I have yet to read them (and read them I will, one of these days).

In the cellar under the current shop, the old stone bank vault still exists, a huge thick metal door in place to keep the customers' money safe! The Buchan name continued in a Peebles legal firm till quite recently though there were no further little Buchans to grow up and join the business. John Buchan of course became Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor General to Canada and spent the last years of his life over there. His books are still widely read today and The Thirtynine Steps, probably his most well-known, has been made into a film at least three times, the most recent being closest to the narrative of the book.