Galashiels
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Template:Infobox Scotland place Galashiels (Gaelic: An Geal Ath) 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 their rival town - Hawick.) Galashiels is the commercial and central communication point in the Scottish Borders. This central position and proximity to Edinburgh is changing Galshiels vastly. Locals are called 'Braw Lads or Lasses' although in other Border towns they are referred to as "pail mercs.", this unsavoury comment refers, in border dialect, to Galashiels being the last town in the borders to get indoor plumbing. The town is known for textile manufacturing, and is the location of the Scottish College of Textiles, now part of Heriot-Watt University.
A poem about the town is Braw Lads o Gala Watter:
- Braw, braw lads o Gala Watter,
- Bonnie lads o Gala Watter;
- I'll kilt ma coats abuin ma knee,
- An follae ma love throu the watter;
- Braw, braw lads.
- Lowden lads is black as deils,
- An Selkirk lads isna muckle better;
- I'll kilt ma coats abuin ma knee
- An follae the lad o Gala Watter;
- Braw, braw lad.
- It's ower the moss an doun yon glen,
- An ower the bonnie bluimin heather,
- Nicht or day he beirs the gree,
- The bonnie lad o Gala Watter;
- Braw, braw lad.
- Corn rigs is fine an bonnie,
- A block o sheep is muckle better,
- The wind will shak a field o aits
- While lamms is frisklin in Gala Watter;
- Braw, braw lads.
- Adieu, soor ploums o Galashiels,
- Tae you, ma faither, here's a letter;
- It's I'm awa wi the black herd lad,
- Tae bide wi him in Gala Watter;
- Braw, braw lad.
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.
History
The history of Galashiels goes back many centuries. 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 crest shows a fox reaching up to eat plums from a tree and the motto is Sour Plums. 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.
In 1599 Galashiels received its Charter, an event celebrated every summer by the Braw Lads Gathering with riders on horseback parading through the town.