Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 3

GALASHIELS
was only the forerunner of many new machines and
modes introduced by the active and enterprising manu-
facturers. In that year mills began to be erected for
the reception of the new machinery ; but by far the
greater part of the 660 cwts. of wool used in the district
in 1792 was woven in the dwellings of the weavers.
Few years passed in the beginning of the present century
without the introduction of some improvement that
enhanced the quality of the cloth, or lessened the cost
of production. The chief products up tiU 1829 were,
as before, blankets and cloth of home-grown wool, with
knitting yarns and flannels ; but the depression of that
year, co-operating with a change of fashion, inflicted a
check on the prosperity of Galashiels. The manufac-
turers skilfully adapted themselves to circumstances,
and introduced new fabrics, of which the chief were
tartans and mixed trouserings in tweed. Thenceforward
the prosperity of the town has been steady and uniform ;
and, notwithstanding the keen and growing rivalry of
the mills in Selkirk, Hawick, Dumfries, Innerleithen,
etc. , the manufacturers of Galashiels, as they were the
first to introduce the wooUen manufactures into the
south of Scotland, have constantly maintained their posi-
tion at the head of the industry. The chief fabrics now
produced at Galashiels are the world-renowned tweeds ;
but yarns, blankets, plaids, shawls, tartans, narrow
cloths, grey and mixed crumb-cloths, and blanket shawls
of variegated patterns, also bulk largely in its trade re-
turns. In 1882 there were 17 woollen-mills in operation,
and 3 large and 1 small yarn-spinning mills. There are
no factories for the manufacture of hosiery, although
there are two or three stocking-makers in the town who
do a little business privately. There are also 3 tweed
■warehouses, on a tolerably extensive scale, which carry
on a home and foreign trade. The manufacturers are
exceedingly averse to affording information concerning
the extent of their operations ; and it is diflicult to ob-
tain accurate returns as to the number of hands employed
or the yearly value of goods manufactured.
Galashiels proper was made a burgh of barony in
1599, and, till 1850, was administered by a baron-bailie
under the Scotts of Gala, who succeeded the Pringles of
Gala as superiors in 1632. The town adopted the General
Police and Improvement Act for Scotland in 1864, and
began to be governed under that Act by a provost, 2
junior magistrates or bailies, and 12 councillors or com-
missioners of police. In 1868 it was constituted a
parliamentary burgh, and it unites with Hamck and
Selkirk in returning one member to parliament. In
1876 the boundaries of the burgh were extended for
municipal purposes, though not for parliamentary elec-
tion purposes. In 1882 the corporation consisted of a
provost, 4 bailie.s, a treasm'er, and 9 councillors, elected
in terms of a bill introduced into parliament in 1875 for
extending the limits of the police burgh, and for invest-
ing the governing body with efficient powers. The same
bill authorised the corporation to construct waterworks,
with a compensation reservoir on theCaddon, a clear water
reservoir on Howesdean, and a service reservoir to the S
of Leebrae. These were completed in 1879 at a cost of
about £60,000. The police force, in 1882, consisted of
12 men, and a superintendent, receiving a salary of £116.
Police courts are held as occasion may require. Small
debt courts are held on the second Mondays of February,
AprU, June, and December, on the last Monday of July,
and on the first Monday of October. A gas company
was estabUshed in 1836, and a water company in 1839.
Great improvements were made in the matter of clean-
ing and lighting the town after 1864 ; but both the
water supply and the drainage continued for several
years in an unsatisfactory condition. The only funds
at the disposal of the magistrates and council are such
as arise under the Police Act. The annual value of
real property in the parliamentary burgh, exclusive of
railways, was £29,838 in 1872; £56,904, 5s. 5d. in 1882;
£56,699, 12s. lid. in 1883, this being the first decrease
on record. The municipal constituency, in 1883, was
2758 ; and the parliamentary, 1828. Pop. of the par-
liamentary burgh (1871) 9678, (1881) 12,435; of the
68
GALA WATER
entire town (1831)2209, (1851) 5918, (1861) 6433, (1871)
10,312, (1881) 15,330, of whom 7250 were males and
8080 females, whilst 9140 were in the parish and police
burgh of Galashiels and 6190 in Melrose parish. Houses
(1881) 3123 inhabited, 114 vacant, 82 building.
Galashiels parish is situated partly in Selkirkshire
and partly in Roxburghshire, its larger portion being
in the former county. It includes the ancient parishes
of Boldside in Selkirkshire, and Liudean in Roxburgh-
shire ; and the union appears to have been carried
through in 1640. The parish as it now exists is bounded
on the NE and E by Melrose, on the SE by Bowden, on
the S by Selkirk, on the W by Selkirk and the Selkirk-
shire section of Stow, and on the NW by the Selkirk-
shire section of Stow. Its greatest length, from NW
to SE, is 6J mUes ; its greatest breadth is 3:^ miles ;
and its area is 8589 acres, of which 150 are water,
and 5710 belong to Selkirkshire. From Caddonfoot
to the Ettrick's influx the river Tweed winds 3|
miles east-south-eastward along the boundary with
Selkirk parish, and then, bending 2J miles north-
north-eastward, divides the Boldside from the Lin-
dean section and from the Abbotsford corner of Mel-
rose. The Ettrick, for the last If mile of its course,
divides the Lindean section from Selkirk parish. Cab-
don Water, over its last 6J fm-longs, traces the N half
of the western border ; and Gala Watee, for 3J mUes
above its junction with the Tweed, traces the boundary
with Melrose parish on the NE. Cauldshiels Loch
(2| X 1 furl. ) is in the Lindean section ; in the Boldside is
Hollybush Loch (2 x J furl.). If mile S of the tovm. The
whole parish of Galashiels is hilly ; but the hills expand
on wide bases, and have in general rounded tops and a soft
outline. They yield a good quantity of land to the plough
and for plantation, and aiford excellent pasture-land for
sheep, and they are usually separated from each other
by beautiful narrow valleys. The principal heights are,
in Selkirkshire, Meigle Hill (1387 feet), Mossilee HiU
(1264), Neidpath HiLl (1203), Blakehope HiU (1099),
and Gala Hill (904) ; in Roxburghshire, Cauldshiels
Hill (1076 feet). White Law (1059), Lindean Moor (968),
and Broad Hill (943). Greywacke and clay slate are
the prevailing rocks, and these furnish most of the
local building material. Ironstone has been found, but
no quantity of sandstone, limestone, or coal. The soil
along the river banks is sandy, on the rising-ground N
of the Tweed, dry and gravelly ; and on similar ground
5 of the Tweed, it has a considerable admixture of clay
resting upon till. Some small patches of table-land,
distant from the rivers, have black mould. Nearly
one-third of the land is arable ; most of the remainder
is pasture, though a respectable number of acres is
under wood. Antiquities are represented by the begin-
ning of the Catkail, a reach of Roman road, the Rink
camp on the Rink Hill, relics of various other Roman
and Pictish fortifications, and Feenilee Tower. Gala
House, a little S of the town, is a recent Scottish Baronial
edifice, one of the last works of the late David Bryce ;
its owner, John H. F. Scott, Esq. (b. 1859 ; sue. 1877),
holds 3600 acres in Selkirkshire, valued at £3396 per
annum. Another mansion is Faldon'SIDE ; and, in all,
6 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and
upwards, 18 of between £100 and £500, 16 of from £50
to £100, and 56 of from £20 to £50. In the presby-
tery of Selkirk and synod of Merse and Teviotdale, this
parish is ecclesiastically divided into Galashiels proper.
West Church quoad sacra parish, and part of the quoad
sacra parish of Caddonfoot, the first a living worth £527.
Under the landward school-board, Galashiels and Liu-
dean public schools, with respective accommodation for
266 and 60 children, had (1881) an average attendance
of 132 and 61, and grants of £71, 8s. 4d. and £59, 16s.
Valuation of landward portion (1881) £4743, 3s. 4d.
Pop. (1801) 844, (1831) 1534, (1861) 3379, (1871) 6062
(1881) 9742, of whom 6347 were iu the ecclesiastical
division of Galashiels, 3252 in that of West Church, and
143 in that of Caddonfoot.— Orti. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
Gala Water, a river of Edinburgh, Selkirk, and Rox-
burgh shires, rising among the Moorfoot HiUs in the