Galashiels

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Bank Street Gardens, Galashiels

Galashiels
An Geal Ath (Gaelic)
Gala, Galashiels (Scots)

OS grid reference:	NT495365



Population:	12,367



Council area:	Scottish Borders
Constituent country:	Scotland
Sovereign state:	United Kingdom

Police force:	Lothian and Borders Police
Lieutenancy area:	Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale
Former county:	Selkirkshire

Post town:	Galashiels
Postal:	TD1
Telephone:	01896


Scottish Parliament:	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
UK Parliament:	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
European Parliament:	Scotland

Galashiels (Gaelic: An Geal Áth) is a burgh in the Scottish Borders, on the Gala Water river and is the main town of the region (taking its new position from the decline of its rival town, Hawick.) It is often abbreviated to colloquially as "Gala".

Galashiels is a major commercial centre and central communication point for the Scottish Borders. The town is known for textile manufacturing, and is the location of Heriot-Watt University's School of Textiles and Design (previously known as the Scottish College of Textiles).

Locals are sometimes known as "Braw Lads or Lasses" although in some other Borders towns they are referred to as "pail mercs". This refers, in Borders dialect, to Galashiels being the last town in the borders to get indoor plumbing; hence the use of a bucket, or "pail", and the ensuing mark, or "merc", left by its use.

1 History
2 Sport
3 In culture
4 Areas
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

To the west of the town there is an ancient earthwork known as the Picts' Work Ditch or Catrail. It extends many miles south and its height and width varies. There is no agreement about the purpose of the earthwork. There is another ancient site on the north west edge of the town, Torwoodlee, a fortification destroyed by the Romans in AD 140.

The town's coat of arms shows two foxes reaching up to eat plums from a tree, and the motto is Sour Plums pronounced locally as soor plooms. It is a reference to an incident in 1337 when a party of English soldiers were picking wild plums close to the town and were caught by Scots who slaughtered them all.

On a hillside to the north of the town, Buckholm Tower is a prominent structure which dates back to 1582 and replaced another tower built on the same site but destroyed around 1570.

In 1599 Galashiels received its burgh Charter, an event celebrated every summer by the "Braw Lads Gathering" with riders on horseback parading through the town.

[edit] Sport

The following sports clubs are based in Galashiels:

[edit] In culture

Robert Burns wrote two poems about Gala, as the town is locally abbreviated, "Sae Fair Her Hair" and "Braw Lads". The latter is sung by the populace each year at the Braw Lads Gathering. Sir Walter Scott built his home, Abbotsford, just across the River Tweed from Galashiels.

[edit] Areas

Balmoral - Located in the south west of the town on Meigle Hill. Mainly ex-local authority houses and currently very popular in the housing market. Served by Balmoral Primary School.

Langlee - Built on both sides of Melrose Road to the east of the town and north of the Gala Water and River Tweed. The 'bottom' half was built in the 1950's and 60's while the 'top' half was built in the 1960's and 1970's. Had a slightly notorious reputation but now becoming more desirable.

Halliburton - Sits high up the hill as you leave Galashiels on the A7 towards Edinburgh at the north-west of the town. Comprises of two large streets (Halliburton Place and Glendinning Terrace) that run parallel with Magdala Terrace and further on Bristol Terrace which make up the A7. Because of the location this area has spectacular views across Galashiels and onto Meigle Hill.

Torwoodlee/Kilnknowe - On the far west of Galashiels along the A72 (Wood Street) which runs to Peebles. Kilnknowe Caravan Park is home to several people from Poland and Portugal who have recently moved to the Scottish Borders to search for work.

Netherdale - In the east of the town, Netherdale is home to the Border Reivers professional rugby team, Gala RFC and Gala Fairydean Football Club. Heriot-Watt University Borders Campus is located here also. Netherdale is a possible location for one of the two new primary schools needing built in Galashiels due to the town expanding.

Kingsknowes - The area most vehicles pass through, Kingsknowes is in the extreme east of Galashiels. The A7 from Selkirk enters from the south up to Kingsknowes Roundabout before heading west into Galashiels. The A6091 starts here and heads east past Tweedbank and Melrose to the A68. This is the preferred route from Carlisle to Edinburgh as the A7 loses its Trunk Road status here. This area is considered one of the most desirable areas to live in due to its modern construction and design.

Town Centre - It is quite hard to define what exactly is the Town Centre. As per the majority of towns in Britain Galashiels has a High Street which is used for commercial purposes but in Galashiels Channel Street is considered the main shopping street and has a pedestrian precinct and other traffic calming measures to ensure shopping in the town is a pleasurable experience. A new road system is currently under construction through the town centre to ease congestion and to allow access to the two new huge supermarkets (Asda on Currie Road which opened on the 20th of November 2006 and Tesco Extra on Paton Street which opened two weeks later on the site of their old supermarket. The two supermarkets are built within 200m of each other on opposite sides of the Gala Water and are linked by a new road bridge which was completed in November 2006 as part of the afore mentioned road system. Galashiels also has a multi-screen cinema on Market Street and along with several restaurants and nightclubs gives Galashiels a very urban and city-like feel.