Selkirk is a town and historic

royal burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

council district of southeastern

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It lies on the Ettrick Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. The people of the town are known as Souters, which means cobblers (shoe makers and menders). At the time of the 2011

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Selkirk's population was 5,784.

History

Early origins

Selkirk was formerly the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

of Selkirkshire. Selkirk is one of the oldest

Royal Burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

s in Scotland and is the site of the earliest settlements in what is now the Scottish Borders. The town's name means "church by the hall" from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''sele'' ("hall" or "manor") and ''cirice'' ("church"). Selkirk was the site of the first Borders abbey, a community of Tironensian monks who moved to Kelso Abbey during the reign of King David I. In 1113, King David I granted Selkirk large amounts of land. William Wallace was declared guardian of Scotland in the town at the Kirk o' the Forest in 1297.

War of the Three Kingdoms

Selkirk sent a contingent of 80 men to fight at the Battle of Flodden in 1513; however, only one man, "Fletcher", returned from the battle, bearing a blood-stained English flag belonging to the

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

regiment. During the series of conflicts that would become known as the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union un ...

, Selkirk played host to the Royalist army of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, with his cavalry installed in the burgh, whilst the Royalist infantry were camped at the plain of Philiphaugh, below the town. On the morning of 13 September 1645, a covenanting army led by Sir David Leslie attacked the royalist forces camped at Philiphaugh, and a rout ensued. Montrose arrived to find his army in disarray and had to flee the field. The surrendered Royalist troops were subsequently executed. The novelist,

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

, presided, as the sheriff-depute, in the courtroom at Selkirk Town House in the early 19th century.

Recent history

Selkirk grew in the mid-19th century because of its

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

len industry, although that industry largely closed in the 1970s. The town is also known for bannocks, a dry fruit cake, which was first sold in the market place by a local baker, Robbie Douglas, in 1859.

Culture

Traditions

The Selkirk Common Riding is a celebration of the history and traditions of the Royal and Ancient Burgh. It is held on the second Friday after the first Monday in June.

Landmarks

The remains of the "forest kirk", referred to in ancient times as the church of St Mary of the Forest, still stand in the old churchyard. It is also the final resting place of several maternal ancestors of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, the 32nd President of the US. Just to the south of the town is The Haining, the late 18th-century residence of the Pringle family. In 2009 the last owner died, and left the house and grounds "for the benefit of the community of Selkirkshire and the wider public." A charitable trust is now planning to restore the building as an art gallery.

The Selkirk Grace

The Selkirk Grace has no connection with the town of Selkirk, beyond its name; it originated in the west of Scotland. Although attributed to Robert Burns, the Selkirk Grace was already known in the 17th century, as the "Galloway Grace" or the "Covenanters' Grace". It came to be called the Selkirk Grace because Burns was said to have delivered it at a dinner given by the Earl of Selkirk at St Mary's Isle Priory, in Kirkcudbright in Galloway. ::::In Scots :Some hae meat and canna eat, :And some wad eat that want it, :But we hae meat and we can eat, :Sae let the Lord be thankit. ::::In English :Some have meat and cannot eat, :And some would eat that want it, :But we have meat and we can eat, :So let God be thanked.

Sport

Rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

plays its role in Selkirk culture and society. Selkirk RFC play in their home games at Philiphaugh, competing in the Scottish Premiership and the Border League. The town cricket club was formed in 1851 and still plays in the Border League. The cricket ground at Philiphaugh is the site of the Battle of Philiphaugh. The town also has a footballing tradition, having produced some players of note in the Scottish game including Bobby Johnstone of Hibernian.Bobby Johnstone. The Passing of an Age by John Leigh The Selkirk Football Club, founded in 1880 and part of the Lowland League since 2013, folded in 2018 due to financial troubles.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC Scotland and

ITV Border ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, th ...

. Television signals are received from the nearby Selkirk TV transmitter. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish national radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 N ...

on 93.5 FM and Greatest Hits Radio Scottish Borders and North Northumberland on 96.8 FM. The Border Telegraph and Southern Reporter are the town's local newspapers.

Notable people

SCO-Selkirk-High Street with Mungo Park monument 2018

* James Blair (1825–1901), Canadian farmer, born in Selkirk * Peter Blake (1951–2018), film and television actor * James Brown (J.B. Selkirk) (1832–1904), poet and essayist * James Marr Brydone (1779–1866), surgeon who sighted the French fleet, signalling the beginning of the Battle of Trafalgar * Rae Hendrie (b. 1977), television actress * Scott Hutchison (1981–2018), Grant Hutchison (b. 1984) and Billy Kennedy (b. 1984), members of the

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Frightened Rabbit * Bobby Johnstone (1921–2001),

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player, member of the Hibernian Famous Five forward line * Andrew Lang (1844–1912), poet, novelist, literary critic and contributor to anthropology * Gideon Lang, Australian pastoralist and parliamentarian * Sandy McMahon (1871–1916), Scotland international footballer and Celtic's eighth highest all-time top goal scorer * Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963), Scottish-Australian poet * Mungo Park (1771–1806), explorer of the African continent *

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

(1845–1934), wool merchant * John Rutherford (b. 1955), Scotland international rugby player, played for Selkirk R. F. C. * Tom Scott (1854–1927), artist * James Sorley (1853–1923) Treasurer of Scottish Life Assurance Company * Tibbie Tamson, alleged to be variously a victim of the Scottish witch trials, a suicide victim, a plague victim, or a murder victim

Climate

Like the rest of the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

, Selkirk has a maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters. However the area appears to have one of the widest absolute temperature ranges in the United Kingdom. The absolute minimum temperature of at the nearest weather station is both a daily record, and the record lowest temperature for the UK outside of the Highlands. Conversely, Scotland's highest temperature of was recorded at Greycook, St. Boswells just to the east.

Twinning

Selkirk is twinned with Plattling, Bavaria.

References

External links

Selkirk online website
{{authority control Towns in the Scottish Borders County towns in Scotland Royal burghs * Parishes in Selkirkshire Populated places established in the 6th century Eildon