selkirkshire

File:Statue of Sir Walter Scott - geograph.org.uk - 696700.jpg, sheriff of the county, outside old courthouse in Selkirk.]]

In the 1st Century AD Selkirk formed part of the lands of the native people who hunted it rather than settled there. Neither the Romans, Angles, or the Saxons cleared much of the forestry there and for centuries Selkirk was known for its forest coverage. Indeed, an alternative name for the county was Ettrick Forest. Under the Scottish kings the forest was regarded as Royal. Despite this it was not until the reign of James V that sheriffs were appointed to administer the county on the Crown's behalf. During the military occupation of Scotland by Edward I of England, the forest was granted to the Earl of Gloucester.

File:Selkirk - A different view of the Town Square - geograph.org.uk - 1524806.jpg

In the Middle Ages the area that would become Selkirkshire formed part of the province of Tweeddale. The origins of the shire are obscure, but sometime around the twelfth century the area of Tweeddale was divided into two sheriffdoms: Peeblesshire to the north and Selkirkshire or Ettrick Forest to the south.{{cite book |last1=Chalmers |first1=George |title=Caledonia |date=1810 |publisher=Cadell and Davies |location=London |page=963 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8Q_AAAAcAAJ&dq=history+of+selkirkshire&pg=PA991 |access-date=17 December 2022 |chapter=Of Selkirkshire}} The first recorded sheriff of Selkirkshire was Andrew de Synton, who was appointed by William the Lion (d. 1214).Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 edition, article on Selkirkshire. Synton in the parish of Ashkirk, just east of the village centre, was an enclave of Selkirkshire surrounded by Roxburghshire.Ordnance Survey One-inch to the mile maps of Scotland, 1st Edition, Jedburgh, pul. 1864

Later, the Earl of Pembroke assumed the hereditary sheriffdom. Under and after King Robert the Bruce, the Earls of Douglas, and later Earls of Angus administered the county. In 1501 John Murray (d. 1510), laird of Falahill, was made sheriff of Selkirkshire and on 30 Nov. 1509 he obtained a grant of the hereditary sheriffdom of Selkirkshire.Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 39, by Thomas Finlayson Henderson His descendant Sir James Murray was deprived of office in 1681 for being remiss in punishing conventicles, but at the Glorious Revolution was raised to the session bench as Lord Philiphaugh and reinstated as sheriff. His son John Murray (died 1753) was the hereditary Sheriff of Selkirk from 1708 to 1734, when he was returned unopposed as MP for Selkirkshire, having resigned his hereditary sheriffdom to one of his sons.Web site of History of Parliament Online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/constituencies/selkirkshire retrieved Feb 2016 When in 1747 the heritable jurisdictions were abolished, Murray of Philiphaugh received £4,000 in compensation. The Sheriff-Deputes, previously appointed by the hereditary sheriffs, were now appointed by the crown and acted in place of the hereditary sheriffs Peebles and Selkirk. Cambridge County Geographies. By George Pringle, Cambridge, 1914. p. 119 One such sheriff of Selkirkshire was Sir Walter Scott who was appointed Sheriff-Depute in 1799, an office he held until his death in 1832.See http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/biography/chronology.html retrieved Feb 2016

File:County Buildings, Ettrick Terrace - geograph.org.uk - 3543595.jpg, Ettrick Terrace, Selkirk]]

File:Coat of Arms of Selkirkshire County Council.svg

Selkirkshire County Council was created in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which established elected county councils across Scotland. The 1889 Act also instigated a review of boundaries, particularly where burghs straddled county boundaries. The boundary review for Selkirkshire concluded in 1891 and made a number of mostly minor changes. The most significant change was that the burgh of Galashiels was brought entirely within Selkirkshire, where it had previously been partly in Roxburghshire.{{cite web |title=Selkirkshire Scottish County |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10210884#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=17 December 2022}} Selkirkshire County Council met at the County Buildings on Ettrick Terrace in Selkirk, which had been built in 1870 as a sheriff court and meeting place for the Commissioners of Supply, the main administrative body for the county prior to the creation of the county council.{{cite news |title=First Meeting of County Council |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=17 December 2022 |work=Southern Reporter |date=20 February 1890 |location=Selkirk |page=3}}{{cite news |title=The budget rise in Selkirkshire |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ |access-date=17 December 2022 |work=Southern Reporter |date=14 September 1944 |location=Selkirk |page=6 |quote=...at a meeting of Selkirk County Council in the County Buildings, Selkirk, on Thursday evening...}}{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB43747|desc=Selkirk Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court, including gatepiers, railings and boundary walls|cat=B|access-date=17 December 2022}} The council's staff were based at the Bank of Scotland Buildings in the Market Place in Selkirk.{{London Gazette|issue=19011|page=576|date=23 July 1971|city=e}}{{Historic Environment Scotland|num= LB43793|desc=Bank Of Scotland, 6 Market Place, Selkirk|access-date=18 July 2021}}

The county council was abolished in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which reorganised local government in Scotland into upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Selkirkshire became part of the Borders region and part of the Ettrick and Lauderdale district.{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973|year=1973|chapter=65|accessdate=22 November 2022}}

At the time of the local government reorganisation in 1975, the posts of lord-lieutenant of Selkirkshire and lord-lieutenant of Roxburghshire were both held by John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch. The new district of Ettrick and Lauderdale and the neighbouring district of Roxburgh became nominally separate lieutenancy areas, although the Duke of Buccleuch was appointed to both positions, effectively continuing the pre-1975 arrangement.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Lord-Lieutenants Order 1975|year=1975|number=428|accessdate=27 November 2022}} When local government was reorganised again in 1996, the two lieutenancies were formally united into a single lieutenancy area called Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996|year=1996|number=731|accessdate=16 December 2022}}

Folk ballads written of the county commemorate the Battle of Philiphaugh in 1645, the 'Dowie Dens' at Yarrow and Tibbie Shiels at St Mary's Loch.

File:St Mary's Loch near Selkirk from the west bank.jpg

Selkirkshire is a rural county, with a handful of small settlements set within hill and forest country. It forms part of the Southern Uplands geographical region. The Ettrick Water and Yarrow Water, both tributaries of the river Tweed, flow through the county. The most prominent loch is St Mary's Loch (including the Loch of the Lowes), with smaller lochs being found east of this such as Akermoor Loch, Shaws Under Loch, Shaws Upper Loch, Halemoor Loch, Alemoor Reservoir, Clearburn Loch, Kingside Loch, Crooked Loch and Windylaw Loch. The traditional highest point (county top) of Selkirkshire prior to border changes in the 20th century was Dun Rig, with a height of {{convert|744|metres}} above sea level.

Ettrick Forest, also known as Selkirk and Traquair Forests, is a former royal forest in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a large area of moorland, south of Peebles, that once stretched from Ayr to Selkirk.

• Simon Fraser of Oliver (d. 1291)
• William Comyn of Kirkintilloch (d. 1291)
• Thomas de BurnhamVeitch, John (1893), History and Poetry of the Scottish Border, Volume 1, William Blackwood and Sons, p. 310
• Simon Fraser (1299–1306)

The Borders Railway connects Galashiels and Tweedbank with Edinburgh. Closed for many years, this line re-opened in 2015.{{cite magazine|title=The long wait is finally over as £296m Borders Railway opens|first1=Richard|last1=Clinnick|magazine=Rail|issue=783|date=16–29 September 2015|pages=6–7}}

There are also buses to Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Carlisle operated by Borders Buses.

Selkirkshire was historically divided into civil parishes. There were originally nine parishes; Ashkirk, Bowside, Buccleuch (or Rankilburn), Duchoire, Ettrick, Kirkhope, Lindean, St Mary's (or St Mary of the Lowes) and Selkirk. There have been a number of changes since the medieval period:

• Caddonfoot was created in 1898 from the part of the parish of Stow of Wedale that lay within Selkirkshire.
• Galashiels was formed by the union of two ancient parishes, Bowside and Lindean.
• The parish of Rankilburn or Buccleuch was suppressed and united to Yarrow c. 1600, then transferred to Ettrick 1650.{{Cite web|title=Saints in Scottish Place-Names - Rankilburn, former parish, Ettrick|url=https://saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk/place.php?id=1365|access-date=2021-01-30|website=saintsplaces.gla.ac.uk}}
• The ancient parishes of Duchoire, St Mary's and Kirkhope were united to form the parish of Yarrow; Kirkhope was then separated from Yarrow in 1852.{{Cite web|last=GENUKI|title=Genuki: Yarrow, Selkirkshire|url=https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/SEL/Yarrow|access-date=2021-01-30|website=www.genuki.org.uk|language=en}}

Population of the county by Civil Parish, according to the latest census (2011):Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Feb 2016. See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930Acreage from Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Figures for each parish, which are presented alphabetically with other places

File:Map_of_Parishes_of_Selkirkshire.jpg

The population of the towns in the county (in 2011):Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Oct 2016. See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Settlement

• Galashiels - 14,994 (of which 12,893 in Selkirkshire) Excluding Tweedbank, which is in the Galashiels Settlement (according to the Census map with Settlement population) but is in the civil parish of Melrose. Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland, for Tweedbank. Web site www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk - retrieved Oct 2016. See "Standard Outputs", Table KS101SC, Area type: Output Area. (See Tweedbank Wikipedia article).
• Selkirk - 5,784

Historical population of the county as returned by the census was as follows:[http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_census_page.jsp?u_id=10210884&c_id=10107260 Selkirkshire: Census Tables (Vision of Britain)]

• 1801: 5,889
• 1811: 6,637
• 1821: 6,833
• 1841: 7,990
• 1851: 9,809
• 1861: 10,449
• 1871: 19,651
• 1881: 26,346
• 1891: 28,068
• 1901: 23,356
• 1911: 24,601
• 1921: 22,607
• 1931: 22,711
• 1951: 21,729
• 1961: 21,055Third Statistical Account of Scotland, volume Peeblesshire & Selkirkshire, publ.1964, by J.P.B. Bulloch and J.M. Urquhart; chapter on Selkirkshire: Population
• 1971: 20,868 Census of Scotland, 1971
• 1981: 15,815 Census of Scotland, 1981 - SAS Table 6 Present Population (aggregate of the 7 civil parishes)
• 1991: 17,456Scotland's Census 1991 - National Records of Scotland - Table KS101SC - Usual resident population (aggregate of the 7 civil parishes)
• 2001: 17,757Census of Scotland 2001, Table CAS002 – Population by Age by Sex and Marital Status, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Feb 2016. See "Standard Outputs", Table CAS002, Area type: Civil Parish 1930; total for all Selkirkshire parishes
• 2011: 18,267

File:Church spires in Galashiels - geograph.org.uk - 717309.jpg

File:Yarrowford.jpg

• Boleside
• Bowhill
• Broadmeadows
• Caddonfoot
• Clovenfords
• Ettrick
• Ettrickbridge
• Galashiels (partly in Roxburghshire prior to 1891)
• Philiphaugh
• Roberton
• Selkirk
• Yarrow
• Yarrowford

• James Hogg
• List of places in the Scottish Borders
• List of places in Scotland
• Craik Forest
• Wauchope Forest
• List of forests in the United Kingdom

{{Reflist|30em}}

The archeology and historic buildings of the county were documented in 1957 by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland.

There is also a History of Selkirkshire by T. Craig Brown, published in 1886.

{{commons category|Selkirkshire}}

{{NIE Poster|Selkirkshire}}

• [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=43478#s47 "Selkirkshire" from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland by Samuel Lewis, 1846] (British History Online)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930230519/http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/gaztext_page.jsp?u_id=10210884&c_id=10107260 Entries on Selkirkshire from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland by Frances Groome(1882-4) and the Gazetteer of the British Isles by John Bartholomew (1887)] (Vision of Britain)
• [http://www.ettrickforestarchers.co.uk EttrickForestArchers.co.uk]
• [http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=NAS&id=RHP9446 RCAHMS record for Ettrick Forest or Selkirkshire]
• [http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-112-736-C SCRAN: Bowling champions in front of club house at Ettrick Forest Bowling Club, Selkirk]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120306162028/http://bft.svr4.factonomy.com/woodlandconservation.aspx The Borders Forest Trust]
• [http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst9960.html Gazetteer for Scotland; Ettrick Forest]
• [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1150730 Jstor: A newly discovered map of Ettrick Forest by Robert Gordon of Straloch]
• [http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails.aspx?ref=1137 The Ettrick Forest Tartan]
• [http://www.ramshornstudio.com/hogg.htm James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd]

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{{Scotland counties}}

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Category:Former counties of Scotland

Category:Forests and woodlands of Scotland

Category:History of the Scottish Borders

Category:Geography of the Scottish Borders

Category:Counties of the United Kingdom (1801–1922)