I was staying in the town of Galashiels in the Scottish Borders which is so far south in Scotland that it is even nearer the equator than the town of Berwick-on-Tweed, the furthest town north in England, but what a wonderfully scenic and historic part of the country.
I was on a week long golfing holiday and had hoped to combine sport with sightseeing but this proved difficult (the golf days were long) so I was restricted to a vert short speed sightseeing tour of the town on the very last day of the week.
First of all and very importantly I came across a very fine door…
Then a decorative fountain…
In the Market Place a granite statue of a man with a sheep. As I understand it, it is meant to represent the importance of sheep farming in the Scottish Borders. Sounds like a reasonable explanation…
A bust of Robert Burns of course….
There are about sixty statues, busts, and various memorials to Robert Burns across the World, thirty or so in Scotland and the rest are mostly in the USA and in the countries of the old British Empire wherever Scottish settlers made their new homes.
One of the best is in Ballarat in Victoria, Australia…
In May 1787 a 28-year-old Robert Burns (1759-1796) took a tour of the Borders and passed through Galashiels but apparently declined to stay overnight there.
The inevitable bust of Walter Scott of course…
Not quite as grand as the Scott memorial in nearby Edinburgh, the biggest memorial to a writer anywhere in the World and a rather appropriate memorial to a man who regularly features in a top ten list of most important Scots
I first visited and climbed to the top in 1984…
And then thirty years later with Kim…
One of my favourite Scott stories is how he saved the Scottish bank note. In 1826 there was a proposal to abandon Scottish notes and adopt the English notes instead. Under the pseudonym Malachi Malagrowther Scott campaigned hard against the proposal and was eventually successful. In recognition of this a picture of Scott even today appears on every Bank of Scotland note.
At the opposite end of the Market place there is a statue of Robert Coltart who penned the ditty Coltard’s Candy in the 19th Century to help sell his home-made confectionery as he travelled across the region.
Robert Coltart was well known in Galashiels and across he Borders in the late nineteenth century for selling his boiled sweets at fairs and festivals, dressing in a variety of colourful clothes, and singing his much loved lullaby song to help advertise his wares.
Ally bally, ally bally bee,
Sittin’ on yer mammy’s knee,
Greetin’ for a wee bawbee,
Tae buy mair Coulter’s candy
As time passed by, much more quickly than I had allowed for, I made my way back from the town to my accommodation about a mile or so away and remaining observant I spotted a memorial called “The Raid Stane” the site of an incident in 1337 when a raiding party of English soldiers were picking wild plums close to the town and and were caught by angry Scots who came across them by chance and slaughtered them all. It seems that they were picking and eating sour fruit and they were so unwell that they were unable to fight back.
Today the town’s coat of arms shows two foxes reaching up to eat plums from a tree, and the motto is Sour Plums pronounced in Scots as soor plooms. Every year in June there is an event in the town called the Galashiels Braw Lads Gathering which celebrates the event and by all accounts if you are English and foolish enough to reveal yourself you really don’t want to be in town that particular night.
Thirty minutes isn’t long enough to pay anywhere a proper visit, maybe next year I will get to see a little more.
Quite beautiful Andrew. And yes we have a great Scott statue in Ballarat and should somebody want more I will take five or six from all different directions of the sun and send it to them all they have to do is ask
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I would like to see those pictures John.
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Give me a couple of days and I’ll send them to you.
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A very interesting post about a, perhaps, less well known part of Scotland.
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Thank you John, the Borders is a lovely part of Scotland
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You did well, at a steady trot, Andrew. I don’t think I’ve spent much more than an hour there, and Mick says most of that was in a coffee shop, out of the rain. I didn’t know that about Scott and the bank notes, but I love the photo of Kim at the Memorial, and don’t you think you bear a passing resemblance to Coulter? I can just imagine you singing that ditty.
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We had a full five days without rain. Most unusual. I am probably about the same height as that statue without the hat.
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🤣🩵 My posts seem to have gone up out of order this week. Not sure why, but there’s a link to you in my summer round up.
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Well, you crammed a lot in – enough for me to ensure I too give it at least half an hour if I can work it into a holiday journey.
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Well worth a visit!
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You gathered so much in 30 minutes
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I call it speed sightseeing.
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Your speed sightseeing is quite impressive, Andrew!
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Thank you Sue.
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wow, you certainly did a lot in such a mini visit
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A bit of a rush I have to say.
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Nice memories! For many years tented to go to Edinburgh even playing with a Scott from there footbal at Univ. But never did, so much to see in our world. Nice post Cheers
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Thank you.
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You are welcome
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Gosh there are a lot of statues there. Nearest I’ve got is Jedburgh. The borders region is very nice.
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Kelso is worth a visit.
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Probably not of interest to you but the Scottish Tapestry museum in Gala is wonderful!
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I really wanted to go there but just didn’t have time. I will make it a priority visit next year. It would be of interest to me. Also Abbotsford.
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Great, definitely worth a visit.
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The general opinion in Langholm is that thirty minutes spent in Gala is quite enough for anyone. We may be a bit biased though and the tapestry is definitely worth a visit.
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It is on my to do list for next year
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