Selkirk, Scottish Borders
Coordinates: 55°33′00″N 2°50′24″W / 55.550°N 2.84002°W / 55.550; -2.84002
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| Population | 5,839 |
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| OS grid reference | NT471288 |
| Council area | Scottish Borders |
| Lieutenancy area | Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | SELKIRK |
| Postcode district | TD7 |
| Dialling code | 01750 |
| Police | Lothian and Borders |
| Fire | Lothian and Borders |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| Scottish Parliament | Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale |
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The Royal Burgh of Selkirk (Scottish Gaelic: Salcraig) is a town in the Borders of Scotland. It lies on the Ettrick Water, a tributary of the River Tweed. At the time of the 2001 census, Selkirk's population was 5,839. The people of the town are known as Souters, which means cobblers (shoe makers and menders).
Selkirk was formerly the county town of Selkirkshire. Selkirk is one of the oldest Royal Burghs in Scotland and is the site of the earliest settlements in what is now the Scottish Borders.
Selkirk is the site of the first Border Abbey, however the community of Tironensian monks moved to Kelso during the reign of King David I. William Wallace, was declared guardian of Scotland in the town.
Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Marquess of Montrose and the Outlaw Murray all had connections with the town
The town's name originates from the Anglian Seleschirche, which means 'Kirk in the Forest'. In 1113, King David I granted Selkirk large amounts of land.
Selkirk's population grew up because of its woollen industry, although now that that industry has ceased leaving little in its wake, the town is best known for bannocks, a dry fruit cake. It has a museum and art gallery, and associations with Mungo Park (explorer), James Hogg "The Ettrick Shepherd" a local poet and writer and Sir Walter Scott, a writer of Romances, both of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It is also home to Scotland's oldest horse racing track, the Gala Rig, on the outskirts of the town.
Read more about Selkirk, Scottish Borders: Landmarks, The Selkirk Grace, Sport, Climate, Notable People
Famous quotes containing the words scottish and/or borders:
“I have hardly begun to live on Staten Island yet; but, like the man who, when forbidden to tread on English ground, carried Scottish ground in his boots, I carry Concord ground in my boots and in my hat,—and am I not made of Concord dust? I cannot realize that it is the roar of the sea I hear now, and not the wind in Walden woods. I find more of Concord, after all, in the prospect of the sea, beyond Sandy Hook, than in the fields and woods.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The bugle-call to arms again sounded in my war-trained ear, the bayonets gleamed, the sabres clashed, and the Prussian helmets and the eagles of France stood face to face on the borders of the Rhine.... I remembered our own armies, my own war-stricken country and its dead, its widows and orphans, and it nerved me to action for which the physical strength had long ceased to exist, and on the borrowed force of love and memory, I strove with might and main.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)