Corn Exchange, 29 Woodmarket, Kelso

In the mid-18th century, a group of local businessmen decided to form a company to finance and commission a new corn exchange for the town. The site they selected was on the southeast side of Woodmarket, an area where merchants originally traded in timber. The foundation stone for the new building was in July 1855. It was designed by David Cousin in the Jacobethan style, built in rubble masonry with ashlar stone dressings at a cost of £3,000 and was opened in 1856. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of three bays facing onto Woodmarket. The central bay featured an arched doorway with an archivolt and a square hood mould on the ground floor and a five-part mullioned and…