Border Reiver Monument, Cornmill Square

1925 · Cornmill Square, before the Burgh Chambers · Category B, HES reference LB31978

Thomas J. Clapperton’s 1925 equestrian Border Reiver is a powerful work of public sculpture by a Galashiels-born artist and a central element of the town’s war-memorial ensemble.

Last reviewed: 17 July 2026

Quick Facts

Why It Matters

The monument combines several stories: the Border reiving past, Galashiels’ twentieth-century civic identity, the work of a nationally successful local sculptor, and the town’s response to the First World War. Its meaning comes partly from its position between the Burgh Chambers war memorial and the fountain over the mill lade.

The Story

The mounted figure depicts a seventeenth-century Border reiver. Rather than commemorating one named person, it uses a strongly modelled historical figure to represent the turbulent culture of the Anglo-Scottish borderlands. The horse and rider stand on a three-tiered ashlar plinth, raised above the approach to the Burgh Chambers.

The sculptor, Thomas J. Clapperton, was born in Galashiels in 1879. He studied locally before training in Glasgow and London and establishing a studio in London. His career included public memorials and sculpture in Britain and overseas. In Galashiels his work has a special resonance: a successful artist who had left the town returned through a monument designed to embody its regional identity.

HES dates the statue to 1925. Its setting connects it directly with the extensive remodelling of the Burgh Chambers and the creation of the war memorial by Robert Stodart Lorimer in the 1920s. The statue should therefore be read as part of a planned commemorative composition rather than as an isolated ornament. Behind it, the Burgh Chambers address the human cost of modern war; the reiver adds a heroic and historical image of the Borders.

That combination can feel uneasy to modern viewers, and it is worth explaining rather than smoothing away. The figure belongs to the inter-war period’s selective use of history: the violent reality of reiving is transformed into courage, horsemanship and regional character. This tells us as much about civic culture in the 1920s as it does about the seventeenth century.

Things to Notice

• The balance and forward movement of horse and rider.
• The period costume and equipment used to identify the figure as a reiver.
• The restrained ashlar plinth, which gives the bronze visual prominence.
• The axial relationship with the Burgh Chambers steps.
• The wider grouping with Lorimer’s war memorial and the mill-lade fountain.

Timeline

• 1879: Thomas J. Clapperton born in Galashiels.
• 1924-27: Lorimer’s war-memorial additions transform the Burgh Chambers.
• 1925: Reiver monument dated and installed.
• Today: Remains one of the town centre’s most recognisable works of public art.

Significance Scores

Scores follow the Heritage Directory’s published significance-scoring methodology. They are interpretive judgements, not statutory designations.

Notes and Uncertainties

The HES record dates the equestrian statue to 1925. The rider is a representative Border reiver, not a portrait of an identified historical person. The detailed history of the commission and unveiling would benefit from further work in contemporary newspapers and council records.

Image and Licence Notes

The principal photograph was taken by Ad Meskens and is reused from Wikimedia Commons under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence. Follow the image link for the original file, full attribution and reuse terms.

Related Places

• Galashiels War Memorial
• Burgh Chambers and Clock Tower
• Sir Walter Scott Monument, Cornmill Square
• Gala Mill Lade and Round Tree Bridge

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland, LB31978: Cornmill Square, Equestrian Statue of a Border Reiver
• Trove/NRHE place record 230890: Cornmill Square, Equestrian Statue
• Historic Environment Scotland, LB31977: Burgh Chambers and War Memorial