This was the site of the house of the Gala Estate's miller. Dated 1867 and built at a cost of £2200, the original Burgh Building is the two storey block beside the clock tower. The tower (which looks like a Borders tower house) and War Memorial were added in 1924-27 to a design by Sir Robert Lorimer. The statue is by Thomas Clapperton - a local sculptor and artist, about whom a small exhibition is to be found in Old Gala House - and depicts a 17th century mounted Border soldier. Behind the statue, on bronze tablets are the names of those who died in the two World Wars. The sculpture of Peace was carved by local sculptor David Sutherland. Every evening at eight o'clock, the clock chimes out the first bar of the town song, "Braw, Braw Lads". These bells were gifted to the town by the Cochrane family whose two sons were killed in the First World War and whose names you can find on the tablets.

On your left, at the bottom of Lawyers' Brae, is a bust of Robert Burns which dates from 1912 and is by F.W. Doyle-Jones. Burns wrote a new version of "Braw, Braw Lads". The song itself is a rewrite of an earlier piece and the chorus is as follows:

"Braw, braw lads on Yarrow braes,
Ye wander through the blooming heather
But Yarrow braes nor Ettrick shaws
Can match the lads of Gala Water".

Next: Public Library

The War Memorial