The earliest known owners of the house and estate which became Hawick Museum and Wilton Lodge Park were the Longuevilles a French family who probably came to England during the Norman conquest and became lairds of the estate in about 1290. Their tenure lasted almost 500 years.
The first laird, Robert, fought alongside William Wallace at the battles of Dunbar and Stirling Bridge in 1297. He was reputed to have become a firm friend of Wallace who is said to have visited Robert at his home, which was probably a fortified house on the site of Hawick Museum.
The French name Longueville, through time became anglicised, or should that be “scoticised”, to Langlands and by 1451 John Langlands was granted a charter by James II and created Baron of Wilton.
The Langlands owned the estate until 1783 when it was sold by the last of the family, another Robert, to Thomas Elliot. Several years later the estate came into the hands of Lord Napier of Ettrick and Thirlestane. Lord Napier changed the name of the house from Langlands to Wilton Lodge and in 1802 he was appointed to the lofty position of Lord High Commissioner of the General Assembly.
James Anderson, a well travelled military man, purchased the estate in 1805. His only surviving child, Mary, came in to her inheritance in 1856 and married David Pringle, a local man from Yair near Selkirk. He was also a military man who went on to take up various government posts in India. In the early years of his marriage to Mary he found time to make changes to Wilton Lodge house, leaving it very much as we see it today, while also becoming heavily involved in the charitable and religious life of Hawick.
Mary and David died in 1885 and 1890 respectively. They unfortunately had no children and so the estate once more came on the market.
At this point the future of the estate becomes an issue of public interest when the Hawick Town Council purchased the 107 acre estate and mansion house for £14,000.
The Council’s original intentions to turn over 20 acres of the estate lands for use as a public park and to sell or let the remainder along with the house, were never brought to fruition. There were suggestions to build a “Swiss Lake” and gardens and to convert the house for use as a hydropathic spa, hotel or swimming baths, none of which were attempted. The house stood empty for much of the time other than a short spell as a private school,- Wilton Lodge Academy. Despite this, between the years of 1890 – 1910 the features of today’s park began to take shape:
Langlands Bridge 1894.
Gilbert Davidson Ornamental Fountain 1896.
Bandstand pre 1899-1960s.
Wallace Thorn Memorial 1899.
Boer War Memorial 1903.
Captain G F Macnee Drinking Fountain 1905.
In 1906 Hawick Archaeological Society were approached by the Town Council with a proposal to move their sizeable museum collection from the Buccleuch Memorial building (situated in the town at the top of Bridge Street-) to Wilton Lodge house. The proposal accepted, Wilton Lodge Museum was formally opened in October 1910.
Other memorable features of the park continued to be added :
War Memorial (beside the Museum) - 1921
Laurie Bridge - 1924
Remains of Mercat Cross - 1927
Henderson (Chinese) Shelter - 1930
Jimmie Guthrie Memorial - 1937
Other features of uncertain date include, Walled Garden and Laurie Shelter
The Museum has gone from strength to strength with the addition of the Scott Art Gallery in 1975 and a series of improvements to the displays and access arrangements between 2004-2008.
The latest and perhaps one of the most poignant features to be added to the park is The Steve Hislop Memorial . Unveiled in 2005 the life-size bronze of the hugely gifted motorcycle racer looks towards the memorial to the other local motorcycle champion Jimmie Guthrie.