Cornmill Fountain

Gala Water, the watercourse that runs through the centre of Galashiels, is the foundation stone on which the town was built. Providing it with a source of water, before powering the textile mills that put Galashiels on the world map. Between those years though, Gala Water powered water mills that ground the grain that fed the town.

While the corn mills have long gone, there is still a subtle link back to them in the form of the Corn Mill Fountain, found not surprisingly in Cornmill Square in the centre of town. The old Corn Mill was demolished in around 1912 and was replaced with an ornate fountain built over and within the former mill lade.

The fountain was designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and was opened in 1913 as the centrepiece to the new square. In plan it resembles an elongated figure of eight with an octagonal, balustraded section to the northern end and a circular one to the south. The octagonal pool has a square column to its centre, that is decorated with shell and fish motifs and four dolphins, which support a circular column with their tails.

The capital that sits at the top of the column is representative of the town coat of arms, which is a fox trying to get plums from a plum tree. The town motto is “Soor Plums”, which comes from a 1337 incident where English soldiers were caught unawares picking wild plums, and subsequently massacred by local townsfolk!

The southern, circular pool is adorned by a pair of nymphs sitting astride two dolphins while cast iron lighting columns mark the four corners of the outer enclosure of the square. Water flowed from the northern pool, along the old mill lade (where the water wheel would have stood), and down a couple of small cascades to the southern pool. There is a sluice gate that can be lowered to hold back the water.

The fountain sadly doesn't function currently, but is in the process of restoration, with a plan to clean and restore the stone work and most importantly restore the water supply to the dolphins and nymphs so they once again spout water into the pools. There is an estimated 150 tonnes of silt to remove from the whole length of the mill lade to restore the water flow so this will be no small job but hopefully it will soon be restored to its original glory.