Old Gala House is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

and

conference centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

situated in the Old Town area of

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

. The building was originally built as a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

in 1457 by the Hoppringill (Pringle) family, who had been granted the lands of Gala by the

Earl of Douglas This page is concerned with the holders of the forfeit title Earl of Douglas and the preceding feudal barons of Douglas, South Lanarkshire. The title was created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1358 for William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, son ...

. In 1583, Andrew Hoppringill carried out much improvement and extended the house as his family home. Further expansion took place in 1611, before Andrew returned to live at the family seat of

Smailholm Tower Smailholm Tower is a peel tower at Smailholm, around five miles (8 km) west of Kelso in the Scottish Borders. Its dramatic situation, atop a crag of Lady Hill, commands wide views over the surrounding countryside. The tower is located at gr ...

in 1635, when his daughter, Jean, married Hugh Scott. A ceiling painting was rediscovered in 1952 celebrating that marriage. Hugh Scott, the new

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

, carried out more improvements and extended the house. Further extensions were carried out in the 17th and 18th centuries, completing the edifice we see today. The five bay, U-shaped house is built of

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

stone and is embraced on three sides by gardens complete with water features. In 1872, Hugh Scott 9th of Gala commissioned Scottish architect

David Bryce David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David Bryce (1763–1816) a grocer with a successful side interest in buildi ...

to design and build a new house. On completion the family moved to New Gala House, abandoning the old house. New Gala House was demolished in 1985 around the time the

Scottish Borders Council Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

renovated the old house and converted it to a venue. As well as being a museum and conference centre, the house plays a role in the graduation ceremonies of the local university and also caters for all forms of meetings including marriages. The house also holds the archives of Borders Family History Society.

References

External links

Old Gala House
- official site at Scottish Borders Council
Old Gala House
- Galashiels town site
Architect David Bryce

Old Gala Club - Galashiels Local History Society
{{coord, 55.6139, -2.8089, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed houses in Scotland Houses in the Scottish Borders Museums in the Scottish Borders Art museums and galleries in Scotland Local museums in Scotland Galashiels