The cottages in Tea Street were built in the late 17th century and are the oldest surviving inhabited dwellings in the town. They were still thatched until the early 1900s.

Near the junction of Tea Street and School Close, there used to be a strong tower with very thick walls (two metres, or almost seven feet) which served as a Royal Hunting Lodge. The Hunter’s Ha’, as it was called, was part of the Ettrick Forest district, which was used as a hunting ground by many Scottish kings.