Galashiels has already lost many buildings that helped define the town’s character, civic life, education, industry, and religious history. This page records some of those losses and links to fuller notes on each building.
View these places on the Heritage Map
Lost
St Aidan’s Church
A major Gothic Revival church whose demolition removed one of the most visible landmarks in this part of Galashiels.
Lost
St John’s Church, St John Street
A 730-seat Free Church whose later names and eventual loss reflect changing Presbyterian life and the remaking of the town centre.
Lost
Scottish Woollen Technical College
An important educational building linked to the town’s textile industry and technical training heritage.
Lost
Knowepark Hospital
A distinctive turreted house later used for long-term care, carrying powerful memories of patients, families and staff as well as architectural value.
Lost
New Gala House
A country house linked to the Gala estate whose loss changed the historic landscape around Old Gala House.
Lost
Roxburgh Street School
A major Victorian school whose loss removed a civic landmark, a setting for generations of childhood memories and an early venue for technical education.
Lost
Galashiels Old Town Hall, High Street
A major Victorian public hall and civic landmark that once helped anchor the public life of the town centre.
Lost
Buckholm Mill
The last large water-driven textile mill in Galashiels, notable for its five-storey riverside form and early electric lighting.
Lost
Comelybank Mill
An early steam-powered textile mill whose demolition removed a major industrial complex and one of the prominent chimneys of the Gala valley.
Lost
Old Corn Mill, Cornmill Square
The lost water-powered mill that gave Cornmill Square its name and whose removal enabled the creation of a major civic space.
Lost
Waulkmillhead Mill
A lost mill site connecting Galashiels’ early waulking tradition with mechanised textile production and the surviving line of the town’s mill lade.
Lost
Former Galashiels Academy and Borders College
A major educational complex that served generations as Galashiels Academy, a technical college and Borders College before demolition, leaving Thorniedean as the strongest historic survivor on the site.
Lost
Former Galashiels Public Baths, Wilderhaugh
A public swimming bath gifted with Wilderhaugh Park and a children’s playground, remembered for almost seventy years of swimming, instruction and community life.
Locations Recorded
The lost buildings currently recorded on this site include:
- Gala Park: St Aidan’s Church
- St John Street: St John’s Church
- Market Street: Scottish Woollen Technical College
- High Street: former Corn Exchange / Old Town Hall
- Knowepark Road: Knowepark Hospital
- Gala Policies: New Gala House
- Roxburgh Street: Roxburgh Street School
- Buckholm Mill Brae / Gala Water: Buckholm Mill
- Low Buckholmside / Gala Water: Comelybank Mill
- Melrose Road and Langhaugh Lane: former Galashiels Academy and Borders College
- Wilderhaugh: former Galashiels Public Baths