Historic Galashiels : Archaeology and Development

by Rorke, Martin; Gallagher, Dennis; McKean, Charles; Dennison, E. Patricia; Ewart, Gordon

• ISBN13: 9781902771809
• ISBN10: 190277180X
• Edition: Pamphlet
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-07-08
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

Situated in the picturesque Scottish Borders, Galashiels is renowned as a centre of the Scottish woolen industry. The town, created a burgh in 1599, owes its commercial prosperity to the Gala Water, which from the sixteenth century was harnessed to provide power for the numerous mills built along the bottom of the steep-sided valley. By the mid-eighteenth century the town was famous for its weavers, and the nineteenth century saw a 25-fold increase in the population as workers flocked to the many mills; at one time there were nearly thirty mills operating in the valley. Sir Walter Scott's home, Abbottsford, lies nearby, and at one time the Scott family owned much of the surrounding land. This book reviews the town's development, focusing particularly on the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, and examines the survival of its built heritage in the form of the many mills.

Table of Contents

List of figures	p. vii
Abbreviations	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Use of the Burgh Survey	p. 1
Site and setting	p. 2
Geographical location	p. 2
Geology	p. 3
Building materials	p. 4
Soils	p. 4
Climate and land use	p. 4
Sources of evidence	p. 6
History and archaeology	p. 10
Prehistory	p. 10
The later prehistoric and Roman periods	p. 11
The early historic and early medieval periods	p. 12
The later medieval period	p. 14
The sixteenth century	p. 17
The seventeenth century	p. 18
The eighteenth century	p. 26
The nineteenth century	p. 37
The twentieth century	p. 55
Archaeological potential and architectural character analysis of Galashiels	p. 69
Archaeological potential	p. 69
Town Centre	p. 73
Old Town	p. 79
Balmoral and Torwoodlee	p. 81
Buckholmside, Ladhope and Glenfield	p. 84
Langlee	p. 87
Netherdale	p. 87
Conclusion	p. 90
Inventory of Galashiels Mills	p. 93
Glossary of technical terms	p. 115
Bibliography	p. 119
Index	p. 123
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