Burgh Chambers and Clock Tower

Galashiels Burgh Chambers is one of the town’s defining civic landmarks: an 1867 municipal building transformed in the 1920s by Sir Robert Lorimer into a powerful composition of local government, public art and remembrance.

Last reviewed: 15 July 2026.

Quick Facts

Why It Matters

The Burgh Chambers records two decisive periods in the history of Galashiels. Its first phase belongs to the rapid Victorian growth of an industrial town acquiring the institutions of municipal government. Its second belongs to the years after the First World War, when civic expansion became inseparable from commemoration. Lorimer’s tower and memorial transformed a practical public building into the symbolic centre of the burgh.

The result is more than a town hall with a later monument attached. Architecture, sculpture, bells, inscriptions and public space were brought together as a single civic composition. The building commands the approach up Bank Street, overlooks Cornmill Square and the gardens, and marks a place long associated with outdoor gatherings and public ceremony.

The 1867 Burgh Chambers

Historic Environment Scotland dates the original Burgh Chambers to 1867 and attributes them to Robert Hall and Co. Completed at a recorded cost of £1,600, this first building was a two-storey, four-bay range facing Albert Place. Its segmental-arched windows, crowstepped gable and large traceried window gave municipal offices an appropriately dignified, Scottish character.

The surviving first-floor meeting chamber belongs to this phase. HES describes a ribbed ceiling, decorative plaster corbels, panelled woodwork and shutters. The basement formerly accommodated a police station, and cells remained identifiable when the listing record was revised. The building therefore combined council business with the practical machinery of burgh administration and law enforcement.

Lorimer’s Civic Transformation

By the late nineteenth century the original offices were already considered inadequate. Schemes for enlargement were discussed for years, but the First World War changed both the timetable and the meaning of the project. Plans prepared before the war were overtaken by the need to commemorate the town’s dead.

Sir Robert Lorimer’s additions of 1924-27 extended the building to the south-west and north-east and created the corbelled clock tower. HES describes the completed complex as a triangular-plan Scottish Renaissance composition. Crowsteps, carved stonework, varied rooflines and the strong vertical emphasis of the tower allow a difficult corner site to read as a deliberate and memorable whole.

The tower rose on the site of a former mill house associated with the corn mill. This is a revealing piece of town history: a place shaped by water power and milling was recast as the ceremonial focus of the modern burgh. The nearby Cornmill Fountain preserves another reminder of that earlier landscape.

War Memorial and Public Grief

The First World War had a profound effect on Galashiels. Approximately 500 service people from the town died, a devastating loss in a community of its size. The memorial project consequently carried exceptional emotional and civic weight. Galashiels Heartland records that the foundation stone was laid by the Prince of Wales on 3 December 1924 and that the completed memorial was unveiled by Field Marshal Earl Haig on 4 October 1925.

The memorial is incorporated into the architecture rather than standing apart from it. A bronze roll of names is set beneath the figure generally known as the Angel of Peace, carved by the Galashiels sculptor David Sutherland. In front of the tower stands Thomas Clapperton’s mounted Borderer, separately listed but visually essential to the composition. Together, the figures of Peace and the armed horseman give the memorial a distinctive combination of mourning, vigilance and Border identity.

The memorial now carries 639 names in total, including 118 Second World War dead added on separate panels in 1947. It may fairly be regarded as one of Scotland’s most significant town war memorials, not because of scale alone, but because remembrance was woven so completely into the working civic heart of the town.

Clock, Bells and Civic Time

The clock tower does more than provide a skyline landmark. Its bells were donated by the Cochrane family, prominent local textile manufacturers, in memory of two sons killed in the war. The carillon’s association with the tune Braw, Braw Lads links the memorial building with the living traditions of Galashiels. Architecture, sound and remembrance thus reach beyond the fabric of the building into the daily life of the town.

An Arts and Crafts Interior

Lorimer’s work is particularly important inside. HES records a late Arts and Crafts decorative scheme with timber-panelled doors, a stone stair, wrought-iron railings, glazed screens and circular brass light fittings ornamented with rams’ heads. These details gave everyday municipal circulation spaces a strong sense of craft and local identity.

Among the most notable works are a painted panel depicting the town’s ‘Soor Plooms’ motto and a mural of Pan by the celebrated Scottish Arts and Crafts artist Phoebe Anna Traquair. The presence of Traquair’s work, originally housed in Melrose, adds an artistic interest that is not apparent from the exterior and makes the interior much more than a conventional suite of council offices.

A Living Civic Landmark

The Burgh Chambers continued to change after Lorimer. A balcony on the south-west elevation was given in 1935 by Alexander Darling, recalling the years he had spent in Galashiels. Lorimer and Mathew made further alterations around 1939, and Aitken and Turnbull added a brick office extension towards Paton Street in 1976.

These additions belong to different architectural periods, but the 1867 chambers and Lorimer’s tower remain the public face of the complex. The building still anchors the relationship between Albert Place, Bank Street, Cornmill Square and the gardens. It is at once an administrative building, a memorial, a work of public art and a familiar point of orientation.

Things to Notice

• The way the tower terminates the view up Bank Street.
• The change from the earlier 1867 range to Lorimer’s more complex 1920s work.
• The crowstepped gables, corbelled tower and varied Scottish Renaissance roofline.
• The Angel of Peace above the bronze memorial panel.
• The mounted Borderer in front of the tower and its contribution to the wider composition.
• Carved references to the town’s fox and ‘Soor Plooms’ identity.
• The small balcony added to the Albert Place elevation in 1935.
• The relationship between the chambers, Cornmill Square, Bank Street Gardens and nearby civic buildings.

Timeline

• 1867: Original Burgh Chambers completed by Robert Hall and Co.
• 1895 onward: The inadequacy of the burgh offices becomes a recurring civic issue.
• 1914: Enlargement plans are interrupted by the outbreak of war.
• 1923: Lorimer’s combined extension and memorial scheme is approved.
• 3 December 1924: Memorial foundation stone laid by the Prince of Wales.
• 4 October 1925: War memorial officially unveiled by Earl Haig.
• 1924-27: Lorimer’s extensions and clock tower completed.
• 1935: Memorial balcony presented by Alexander Darling.
• Circa 1939: Further alterations by Lorimer and Mathew.
• 1947: Second World War panels added.
• 1976: Paton Street office extension built by Aitken and Turnbull.
• 2020: The long-proposed Border Torch added to the memorial ensemble.

Significance Scores

These are editorial guide scores for public interpretation, not statutory designations. See how significance scores are assessed.

See the significance scoring methodology.

Notes and Uncertainties

• Historic Environment Scotland dates the original building to 1867. A secondary local account gives 1887 when discussing the inadequacy of the Burgh Buildings; the statutory designation and the dated fabric support 1867, which is used here.
• The mounted Borderer forms part of the visual memorial ensemble but has its own separate listed-building designation.
• The HES account records the building’s use and interior as observed when its listing description was revised. Public access and internal use may change, so visitors should check current arrangements.
• The total of 639 memorial names includes the later Second World War panels. Different records may count connections to the town in slightly different ways.

Related Places

• Galashiels War Memorial
• Border Reiver Monument, Cornmill Square
• Sir Walter Scott Monument, Cornmill Square
• Volunteer Hall, St John Street
• Galashiels Public Library
• Old Gala House
• Great Tapestry of Scotland Centre

Sources

• Historic Environment Scotland, LB31977: Albert Place, Burgh Chambers and Clock Tower, Including War Memorials, Balustrading and Steps. Principal source for dates, architects, fabric, interior, setting and statement of special interest.
• Trove: Galashiels, Cornmill Square, Burgh Chambers and War Memorial. Archive record, location and historical-image index.
• Galashiels Heartland of the Borders: Galashiels War Memorial. Used for the memorial’s civic history, ceremonies and names.
• Galashiels Heartland Architecture Trail: Burgh Chambers and War Memorial. Used for public-facing architectural details and the carillon tradition.
• Cruft, Kitty, John Dunbar and Richard Fawcett, The Buildings of Scotland: Borders (Yale University Press, 2006), p. 300, as cited by HES.

Image and Licence Notes

The exterior photograph is by Cs-wolves and is reused under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence. Follow the linked Wikimedia Commons file page for the original file, full metadata and reuse terms. No endorsement by the photographer is implied.