Overview of Rosetta

A pretty little late Georgian mansion set into the contours of the hill and now forming the centrepiece of a camping and caravan park on the northern edge of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, Rosetta comprises two storeys of three bays and is constructed in rubble with ashlar margins. Its interest is more historical than architectural. It was built in 1807 for Thomas Young (c.1753 - 1836), a military surgeon who had accompanied Sir Ralph Abercromby (1734 - 1801) to Egypt, an expedition which secured the Rosetta Stone for Britain. Young went on to study the stone and had a replica built into the porch of his house^*. There is also a Gothic stable block to the NW, built around a courtyard, and a walled garden to the SW. Together with the mansion, these are now B-listed because they represent a fine example of early 19th century estate buildings.

^* This was a different Thomas Young from the English polymath who did much to translate the inscription on the Rosetta Stone.