Overview of Selkirk

This small town is located 11 miles (18 km) north of Hawick and 19 miles (30 km) west of Kelso in the old county of Selkirkshire on the Ettrick Water. Selkirk was a mediaeval town when Prince David (later David I) erected an abbey in 1113, though the monks shifted to Kelso in 1128; a castle and hunting forest were established in the same century.

The town became a royal burgh in the 13th Century and the Scottish Parliament met here in 1204. The people of Selkirk are known as Souters (shoemakers) acknowledging the town's former main industry. More recently the town was a centre for the manufacture of tweed and woollens, but this has been in sharp decline and light industries such as micro-electronics have become its mainstay. Selkirk's Common Riding is the second largest in the Borders.

Sir Walter Scott served as Sheriff here (1803 - 1832) and some items of his are on display at the Court House. The explorer Mungo Park was born nearby at Foulshiels (1771) and Robert Burns wrote his Epistle to Willie Creech here in 1787. There are statues to Scott and Park.

Notable buildings include The Haining (1794), a classical house on which grounds are the ruins of Selkirk Castle (on Peel Hill); Halliwell's House Museum; Bowhill (1708); and the Court House. A statue by Thomas Clapperton (1913) commemorates Selkirk's sole survivor at the Battle of Flodden (1513), after which the English destroyed the town. In 1645 the Covenanters under David Leslie carried out a massacre of Royalists under Montrose's command.