Date: opened 17 October 1967; one photographic record describes the building as 1968
Location: Livingstone Place, beside Balmoral Avenue
Designation: not known to be listed
St Margaret’s is an important post-war school serving Galashiels’ Roman Catholic community and a clear marker of the expansion of housing into the former Gala House policies.
Last reviewed: 17 July 2026
Quick Facts
| Date | opened 17 October 1967; one photographic record describes the building as 1968 |
|---|---|
| Location | Livingstone Place, beside Balmoral Avenue |
| Building type | primary school |
| Designation | not known to be listed |
Why It Matters
The school combines educational, religious and planning history. Its opening provided a modern purpose-built setting for Catholic primary education, while its position beside Balmoral housing shows how schools and neighbourhoods were planned together during the town’s twentieth-century growth.
The Story
A Scottish Parliament motion marking the school’s fiftieth anniversary records an opening date of 17 October 1967. A Geograph description calls it a 1968 building. The anniversary evidence is more specific and should lead the entry, while the difference is retained rather than silently resolved.
Architecturally, the school is deliberately low and horizontal. Its form contrasts with the towers and Gothic detail of nineteenth-century church buildings, expressing a period when daylight, practical circulation and direct access to outdoor space shaped school design. Its setting also has a deeper history: the site formed part of the landscape attached to Gala House before the policies were progressively developed.
The building is significant chiefly through use and place. Generations of local children and families have known it as a community institution, making social continuity central to its heritage value.
Things to Notice
- The low classroom ranges and generous windows.
- The relationship between school grounds and surrounding housing.
- The contrast with the surviving older buildings around the edge of the former policies.
- Later alterations that reflect changing educational needs.
Significance Scores
| Criterion | Score | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural interest | 3/5 | A clear but relatively restrained post-war school design |
| Historical importance | 3/5 | Represents the post-war expansion of education and housing |
| Social significance | 5/5 | Long-standing importance to pupils, families and the Catholic community |
| Rarity | 2/5 | Post-war schools are widespread, though increasingly altered |
| Townscape contribution | 3/5 | A substantial open site within the Balmoral neighbourhood |
How the significance scores are assessed
Notes and Uncertainties
The exact relationship between the 1967 opening and the 1968 date in the photograph description needs confirmation from school or council records. The page should state the conflict explicitly.
Sources
- Scottish Parliament motion S5M-08047: St Margaret’s Primary School 50th anniversary
- Wikimedia Commons: St Margaret’s RC Primary School
Image and Licence Note
St Margaret’s RC Primary School, Galashiels, Walter Baxter, 13 March 2010. CC BY-SA 2.0. The image also shows Balmoral Avenue housing behind the school.
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