Silly Saturday - Another brick in the wall!

Not being a Melrose native, I hadn’t heard of the head in the wall until last week.  I went out on Monday with the intention of blipping it, but decided that I would be better returning on a Saturday as it seems to suit Silly Saturday far more than MonoMonday!  

  It is embedded in the wall of St Mary’s school and looks onto the High Street almost opposite the Co-op.  The following is copied from the Headmaster’s Blog:


In the early 1960s, two men Drew Patterson and George MacDonald were working as stonemasons for Galloways of Darnick.  As they built our school wall at the front of the campus, one of them had the mischievous idea of cementing a plastic boy’s head into the pointing. Drew and George received a ticking off from their boss Mr Galloway for the jape, but in the decades that passed, the boy’s head became a talking point for many in the local community.  At some point, the face was removed from the doll’s head, leaving a tennis balls sized cavity in the wall.  Our man on the street, Cammy Shand, has spent the summer weeks pointing and repairing the wall and learned of this tale from many passers-by.  Not only was Cammy given the full story but he also learned that George MacDonald is still alive today.  Having heard of this story, I approved the replacement of the doll’s head with another, which I understand has been donated by George MacDonald.  As you walk along the High Street, outside our south facing wall, keep an eye for a face peering back at you, round about knee height, and don’t be alarmed as you now know the tale.

There was also an article in the Southern Reporter.

Thanks, as ever, to Admirer for hosting Silly Saturday.