Galashiels

Galashiels, parliamentary borough and manufacturing town on the banks of the Gala, a mile above its junction with the Tweed, partly in Roxburghshire and partly in Selkirkshire, 33 miles S. of Edinburgh. It is an ancient place, and was the seat of the Douglases in the l5th century. Wool had been worked here for long, and in 1790 a new impetus was given by the establishment of the first factory. But whereas £1,000 represented the output in 1790, this had risen in 1890 to £1,250,000. Formerly, shawls and tartans were manufactured there, but now it confines itself chiefly to the goods known as tweeds. There are between 20 and 30 woollen factories, and there is a large skinnery. Galashiels unites with Hawick and Selkirk to send one member to Parliament.