Welcome!

This blog is to introduce you to my town - Peebles, in the Scottish Borders - just one photo at a time, with perhaps a little description and maybe some history thrown in. I hope you will find it interesting. The title comes from a historical comment made by someone who preferred Peebles to the great and famous cities. I know how they felt. It's always a pleasure to return here however long you've been away.

If you want to make a comment, ask me a question, or merely just want to say "hello, I've dropped in", you can do that by using the comment section below each entry. (Just click on the word COMMENT and follow instructions. ) I'd love to know what you think of what you see of my town.

I don't have an expensive elaborate camera so the photo quality may not be brilliant, but I'd like to think my pics will please you. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks to Mary H for the lovely designs I used for my background, and thanks too to all of you who have chosen to support my blog by becoming "followers".

Wednesday 28 January 2009

Chambers house

Well things seem to be improving. I can once more upload photos!

This small white painted house looks down on the Cuddy Burn, just a little way along Biggiesknowe from Bridgehouse Terrace. The town at that time consisted of two parts, the old, outside the town walls on the north side of the burn, and that within the walls on the south side. Biggiesknowe was considered part of the old town. At the other side of the house, actually on Biggiesknowe, it looks quite different. Because of the slope, the road is level with the upstairs, and a "bridge" crosses the area of land dug out round the house, to the door. On the other side there is only one small window on the lower level, looking out onto the retaining wall!

This house was built by the father of one James Chambers, a cotton manufacturer in Peebles, as a wedding present to the said James at the end of the 18th century. There James' family were born, William in 1800, and Robert two years later, being the two best known. At a time when most of the buildings were thatch-roofed cottages, inhabited by weavers and labourers, this new slate roofed house must have been thought of as quite grand. The living accommodation was all on the level of the street, with workshops downstairs, and store rooms upstairs in the attics.

The Chambers family moved to Edinburgh after the collapse of James's businesses, where William and Robert were to become famous in the world of bookselling and publishing. Their dictionaries and encyclopedias are still in use today, and many of their works available in print.

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Thanks fot looking at my photos of Peebles. It is great to read your comments, so thanks for writing!