The old peel tower, known as 'Hunters' Ha',' stood till the end of last century; and ivy-clad ruins of the tolbooth, whose vane bore date , were demolished in the summer of The decay of the village has been arrested by the prosperity of the modern town, and its site is now occupied by numerous handsome villas and dwelling-houses.
The armorial bearings of Galashiels are a fox and a plumtree, and are said to have been assumed in memory of an event that occurred during Edward III.
A party of English, encamped in or near the town,. Congratulating themselves on an exploit that had proved to be sourer fruit for the invaders than the plums they had been seeking, the villagers dubbed themselves 'the Sour Plums o' Galashiels,' and are celebrated under that name in an old song.
The arms of the town, however seem to indicate some confusion of thought between this event and the fable of the fox and grapes. The modern town owes its origin, as well as its growth and prosperity, to the spirit of manufacturing enterprise, which first seized the people in last century.
Galashiels has no history apart from the narrative of the development of its manufactures, and although mills on the Gala are mentioned in the early 17th century, it was not till the 18th that a general move was made down to the banks of the stream which afforded such excellent water-power. Dorothy Wordsworth, speaking of the place in , describes it as 'the village of Galashiels, pleasantly situated on the banks of the stream; a pretty place it once has been, but a manufactory is established there; and a townish bustle and ugly stone houses are fast taking place of the brown-roofed thatched cottages, of which a great number yet remain, partly overshadowed by trees.
An important factor in furthering the prosperity of the town was the opening of the various railways - to Edinburgh and Hawick, to Selkirk, and to Peebles - which furnished access to the best markets at a lessened cost for the manufactures of the town.
The burgh of Galashiels stretches for 2 miles along both sides of the Gala, which flows through the narrow town from NW to SE. For the most part it is built on the alluvial ground along the banks, but it also sends offshoots, extending up the slopes of the adjacent hills.
It is flanked or overlooked on the one side by Meigle Hill feet and Gala Hill, and on the other by Buckholm and Langlee Hills; and the environs are picturesque and varied in their scenery. Situated thus on the border between Selkirkshire and Roxburghshire, the burgh belongs to two parishes - Melrose and Galashiels - which are, however, for all civil and police purposes, regarded as one community in Selkirkshire, though for parochial matters each parish rates its own district.
The boundary between them is exceedingly irregular; and though Melrose parish, which takes in the Ladhope district of the burgh, lies to the N of the Gala, and Galashiels parish generally to the S, the stream does not form the boundary between them.
Some time ago both districts were about equal in population, but with the recent opening up of Gala policies, a new town has arisen in Galashiels parish, both larger and finer in appearance than the Melrose portion.
The aspect of the town is unassuming. Most of it is either straggling or irregular; the central parts and both extremities, contiguous to the river, consist mainly of factories, shops, offices, and workmen's houses. The part S of the Gala is made up chiefly of one long irregular street, with two newer and shorter streets and detached buildings, stretching along the narrow level strip that intervenes between the river and the hills.
The northern part of the town, which is the quarter showing the greatest extension and improvements in recent times, has a number of short, irregular streets and rows and clusters of buildings that reach up the face of the hill. The suburbs, especially Abbotsford Road, Melrose Road, and Windy Knowe, are adorned with large and elegant villas, offering one of the best and most visible evidences of the prosperity of the Galashiels manufacturers.
The river, which is spanned by five bridges, of which two are railway viaducts, is, in times of drought, almost entirely drawn off by the factories; but in times of freshet it is not always prevented by strong bulwarks from flooding the adjacent streets.
A heavy flood on 12 July , and another on 10 March , were attended with great damage to property along its banks. There is no drainage system whatever, and at all times the Gala serves as the common sewer for the refuse from the factories and houses - a fact which at times is unpleasantly impressed upon the olfactory nerves of visitors to the town.
The railway within the burgh is crossed by one foot-bridge and two for wheeled traffic. Galashiels has no imposing show of buildings. The houses, with the exception of the suburban villas, are in a plain and unambitious style; and even the shops are few and small in consideration of the population and relative importance of the town.
The public buildings are neither very numerous nor very fine. All these halls are the property of various companies of shareholders. The public hospital was projected in There is a very large number of associations and combinations for various purposes - social, commercial, helpful, and pleasurable - among the people of Galashiels. These include a Mechanics' institute and library, a cottagers' horticultural society, two farmers' clubs, a provident building society, a provision store and several co-operative store companies, a manufacturers' corporation, masonic, good templar, and foresters' lodges, clubs for angling, cricket, football, bicycling, bowling, curling, etc.
The churches and meeting-houses are numerous and capacious. The parish church is a semi-Gothic edifice. Ladhope church serves for a quoad sacra parish constituted in , and comprising part of the town within Melrose parish. It contains about sittings. The slow growth over the following decade followed improvements to Galashiels' environment, and the construction of a secondary school and a technical college.
In the town's Scottish College of Textiles became part of Heriot-Watt University allowing Galasheils, for the first tme, to benefit from its own university campus.
Today's Galashiels has successfully diversified away from its old dependence on textiles. Elsewhere in the town, companies have set up engaged in fields as varied as medical research; software development; the production of leather clothing; and fish processing. And Galashiels has also very successfully improved its transport links in recent years.
Galashiels Station was closed in with the rest of the line, but in September part of the route came back into use when the rebuilt "Borders Railway" opened, linking a new transport interchange in Galashiels with Edinburgh.
Galashiels Burgh Chambers. Channel Street. Visitor Information View Location on Map. Galashiels Post Office. Date Crest on Post Office. The Harrow Inn. By , however, the stone bridge was deemed inadequate for the increased levels of traffic - a result of the railway - and plans were put in place to build another.
The town of Galashiels has long been associated with the textile industry. From the early-eighteenth century, the manufacturing of woollen cloth has taken place here. Originally known for its coarse cloth produced from homegrown wool, by the mid-nineteenth century there was a move towards producing cloth of a finer quality using imported wool.
The appearance of the Edinburgh-Hawick Railway in not only brought with it cheaper supplies of coal, which resulted in the construction of more mills, but also increased the amount of wool imported into the area. By combining the coarse homegrown wool with that of a finer quality, Galashiels began producing cloth that was on a par with the main textile manufacturers in England and Wales.
At the time of survey, Galashiels was home to around 12 cloth factories. Once produced, the cloth was sold in yarns or made into shawls, blankets, plaids, narrow cloths and grey or coloured crumb cloths.
Wilson noted that during 'the great exhibiton of the industrial products of nations in , Galashiels took four prize medals for the excellence of its woollen manufactures. A large number of the machines used in the manufacturing of woollen cloth were also made locally.
Wilson noted that the parish church, which was constructed in and included seating for people, was a semi-gothic structure with a square tower. At the time of survey, a second Free church had recently been built, as had another United Presbyterian church. There was also a chapel of ease and places of worship for 'Episcopalians, Morrisonians, Baptists, Glassites and Roman Catholics'. At the time of survey, there appears to have been little in the way of prominent public buildings or institutions.
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