Cowgate Street, 1841 Galashiels

[MaryS]

In the 1841 Census of Galashiels, my ancestor lived on Cowgate St. Does anyone know where that was? I have looked on old maps of Galashiels and have been unable to find it. Any hints would be appreciated.

[paddyscar]

Hi Mary, and a warm welcome to

Have you tried the maps of Galashiels at this link? http://www.nls.uk/maps/early/towns.html#galashiels

I used to be able to zoom in on these maps, but something on my PC isn't allowing me to do it, at the moment.

The maps are quite readable and I've found several places without knowing where in the city they would have been.

Hope this helps, but do keep checking, as someone with much more knowledge about the area should be along anytime.

Frances

[MaryS]

Thank you Frances. Yes I did check the maps for Galashiels on that site and could not find Cowgate St. Perhaps it was also known by another name and we may never know where it was.

I'll keep checking! Thanks again for the help.

[AndrewP]

Hi Mary,

Go back to the search you mad on ScotlandsPeople for this one and click on the link to "free census header". Within the header you may have to go forward a page or two. You should find a description of the enumeration district which may have other street names. Then armed with some other street name(s) return to the map and see if these can be found. All going well, you should at least have an approximate location for Cowgate Street.

All the best,

AndrewP

[MaryS]

Thank you Andrew. There seems to be a couple of pages at least for Cowgate Street, but still can't find it on the maps. The street before Cowgate in the 1841 census is High Street which was a main street in Galashiels, so I assume Cowgate was off of it. Galashiels is confusing as part of it is in the parish of Galashiels and part is in the parish of Melrose. I now know which side of the river they were on! Thank you again.

Mary

[MaryS]

After some further checking, it seems that there are several pages of people living on Cowgate St. in the 1841 census of Galashiels. I'm looking on a town map from 1858, and there are "tenter grounds" indicated near some of the Mills in town. Does anyone know what these are? Could they be for migratory Mill workers? My ancestors were hand loom weavers and emigrated to Canada from Galashiels but were born there.

Mary

[AndrewP]

Hi Mary,

Here is another possibility for the meaning of tenter - other than tent-dwelling person.

From http://www.spitalfields.org.uk/didyouknow.html

• "Tenter Ground" off White's Row was so called because this was the place in the 17th century where woven cloth was washed and then stretched on frames called tenters to dry. This is also the origin of the expression, "to be on tenter hooks".

This same meaning can also be found in Chambers Dictionary.

All the best,

AndrewP

[Russell]

Hi Mary

Like you I soent quite some time on the old maps but found no trace of Cowgate or Cowgate Street. Usually streets with names like that are close to the Market or on the edge of a larger town, form part of a main drovers way into the town. With the river bisecting the town and most of the older buildings being on the Western bank I would imagine it to be somewhere in that part of town.
You may never get an answer to thisn although Andrew's suggestion of the census header would give clues to which streets were involved. There are several small closes and pends any one of which could have been the Cowgate.
Thanks for taking me on a fascinating journey. I had relatives in Torwoodlee and didn't realise old Sir George Pringle had land almost to the outskirts of Galashiels.

Russell

[Currie]

Freecen 1841 brings up 339 individuals living Cowgate in Galashiels.

I was fiddling around with the “next household - previous household” buttons and the sequence seems to be:

Stenterfield House, Overhaugh, Clearburn, Bank Street, Market Place, High Street, Cowgate, Chingle, Thimble, Linty Mill, Hall Street, Wilderburn Cottage.

If old Galashiels was a strung-out sort of a place the order there might indicate the approximate geographical order. Looking at a modern map maybe Cowgate was in the general area of the bridge.

Alan

[MaryS]

Thank you Alan, that is very helpful!