I have received requests from a few of the visitors to Blackadder Mains Cottage to tell them something of the history of the cottage and surrounding area. I am currently researching this at the time of writing (July 2004) and I hope that this will be an ongoing project. I would appreciate any information from guests and visitors to this website to expand this resource. Some of the information here has been told to me by local people and I have yet to verify it.

The History of the Blackadder Mains Cottage:-

The cottage at Blackadder Mains was originally two farm workers cottages (No 1 & 2 Blackadder Mains Cottages). The cottages lay empty from 1979 to 1981 and I bought No 2 in 1990 and then purchased No 1 in 1991 and embarked on their reconstruction and refurbishment from April 1992, finally moving in May 1993. Shortly after this the property was listed Grade C by Historic Scotland. The cottages were built in 1865 of sandstone with a decorative slate roof, I heard from a local farmer that the owners nearly bankrupted themselves in the process. The farm of Blackadder Mains along with Blackadder Bank, Blackadder West and Blackadder Mount and the nearby village of Allanton were all originally part of the Blackadder Estate which surrounded Blackadder House, above the Blackadder River near the village of Allanton. In the early part of the 20th Century the estate was owned by a family called Houston Boswall. who sold it off in the 1920s. I have seen a copy of the particulars for the sale and it was quite a magnificent place.....