Overview of Hawick

This small town is located on the River Teviot 12 miles (19 km) south of Selkirk and 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Kelso in the old county of Roxburghshire. Hawick is one of Scotland's leading textile centres, famous for its knitwear and hosiery. It has a long tradition of civic independence, reinforced by the burgh's Common Riding in June, the largest of its kind in the Borders.

A month of celebrations marks the events of 1514 when a group of youths (callants) defeated an English force at Hornshole and captured their standard. The day of the Common Riding involves the inspection of the marches (boundaries) by mounted townsfolk.

Hawick has long been a centre for textiles, with hand knitting preceding the introduction of frame knitting in 1680 though this was fully commercialised only in 1771 by local magistrate John Hardie. By 1820, the area had about half of all Scottish frames and after mid-century the focus on stockings shifted to woollen underwear and then, in this century, to women's knitwear.