3-056-384 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ancrum House, near Jedburgh, lately destroyed by fire, 1873. '...this mansion, the old ancestral residence of Sir William Scott, Bart., was entirely destroyed by fire...The rapidity with which the fire spread through the rooms, with the absence of any fire-engine...while the fury of the flames increased every moment, too soon proved to Sir William, though hundreds of willing hands, at the sound of the alarm-bell, had flocked from the neighbouring villages to his assistance, that their endeavours were useless, and that the noble old building was doomed...many old family relics, beautiful old carvings, and furniture, and some valuable papers, with nearly the whole of Lady Scott's jewels, were destroyed...now but crumbling walls and a heap of ashes mark where Ancrum House so long had stood. The house, an illustration of which we have engraved, showing the east front...was...of great antiquity...the castle of Ancrum was destroyed by fire in 1513...but with the stone and other materials of that ancient castle the central tower...was built in the year 1542...It was the father of the present Baronet...who, by his care and love of the place, did much to beautify it and to render it part of the pride and beauty of the Border'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.