Woodmarket

About Woodmarket

As the name implies, this area is where merchants in the town traded wood. The oldest surviving building is Numbers 1-5, which was built about 1770 and has Venetian style windows on the 1st floor.
Numbers 21-23 are of note in that they were formerly designed as a seed merchant's warehouse around 1865 in the Italiante style. This building now serves as one of the few Scottish branches of Barclay's Bank The arched front has female heads on the keystones and these have the fruits of the earth woven into their hair. Carved cherubs adorn the roundels in between.
Number 25 is the former property of the Bank of Scotland. Designed in the 1860s in a Greek revival style, the entrance is defined by a projecting porch and cast iron tripod lamp on either side of the door. The present building stands on the site of an earlier Bank of Scotland building which was founded in 1774 and was one of the earliest and most successful in the country.
The former Corn Exchange was built in 1855 at a cost of £3,000 which was raised through public subscription.The exterior. with its 1st floor bay windows, has lost much of its detailing. The interior is quite intact with its hammer beam roof and glazing which allows light to flood in. There were 71 stalls for merchants' use on the weekly Market Day and a musicians' gallery for when the hall was used on social occasions.
Numbers 22-24 (on the other side of the road) is typical of the mid Georgian period house in Kelso. The architectural firm of ] & F Johnston aided in the rehabilitation of the area by retaining the Georgian frontage whilst inserting ew buildings behind. A modern housing development was built as part of the same 1974-9 scheme and this projects slightly into Coalmarket, beyond the former building line.