Turret House

About Turret House

This is built on the site of a single storey house belonging to “John Palmer, boatman in Kelso". The house was rebuilt in 1694 when two floors were added for James Kirkwood, schoolmaster of Kelso Grammar School. Turret House changed hands in 1759 and again in 1764 when it became a Skinners workshop. It was from this that the street that used to run adjacent to the river derived its name. Skinner's Brae. ln 1822, the building became a house again and in 1926 the ground floor was turned into a sweet shop owned by Katie Bennet. When Miss Bennet died in 1958, the house passed to her son who sold it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1964, and was used to house the Kelso Museum (1985-98). The building is now a house in private ownership.
Opposite Turret House is St Andrew's Episcopal Church. which was designed in 1861 by Sir Robert Row and Anderson, an important Victorian church designer and architect. His designs also include the McEwan Hall and the dome of Old College, both at the University of Edinburgh. Beyond the church is a short row, known as Belmount Place. To the right and down the path, you can get a fine view of Rennie's Bridge and the Tweed.