Selkirk | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Scotland |
| County town | Selkirk |
| Area | |
• Total | 267 sq mi (692 km2) |
| Ranked 27th of 34 | |
| Chapman code | SEL |
Selkirkshire or theCounty of Selkirk is ahistoric county andregistration county ofScotland. It bordersPeeblesshire to the west,Midlothian to the north,Roxburghshire to the east, andDumfriesshire to the south. It derives its name from itscounty town, theroyal burgh ofSelkirk. The county was historically also known asEttrick Forest.
Unlike many historic counties, Selkirkshire does not have its ownlieutenancy area, but forms part of theRoxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale lieutenancy area.
In the 1st CenturyAD Selkirk formed part of the lands of the native people who hunted it rather than settled there. Neither theRomans,Angles, or theSaxons cleared much of the forestry there and for centuries Selkirk was known for its forest coverage. Indeed, an alternative name for the county wasEttrick Forest. Under theScottish kings the forest was regarded as Royal. Despite this it was not until the reign ofJames V that sheriffs were appointed to administer the county on the Crown's behalf. During the military occupation of Scotland byEdward I of England, the forest was granted to theEarl of Gloucester.
In theMiddle Ages the area that would become Selkirkshire formed part of theprovince ofTweeddale. The origins of the shire are obscure, but sometime around the twelfth century the area of Tweeddale was divided into twosheriffdoms:Peeblesshire to the north and Selkirkshire or Ettrick Forest to the south.[1] The first recorded sheriff of Selkirkshire was Andrew de Synton, who was appointed byWilliam the Lion (d. 1214).[2] Synton in the parish ofAshkirk, just east of the village centre, was an enclave of Selkirkshire surrounded byRoxburghshire.[3]
Later, theEarl of Pembroke assumed the hereditary sheriffdom. Under and after KingRobert the Bruce, theEarls of Douglas, and laterEarls 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.[4] His descendantSir James Murray was deprived of office in 1681 for being remiss in punishingconventicles, but at theGlorious Revolution was raised to thesession bench as Lord Philiphaugh and reinstated as sheriff. His sonJohn 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.[5] When in 1747 theheritable 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[6] One such sheriff of Selkirkshire wasSir Walter Scott who was appointed Sheriff-Depute in 1799, an office he held until his death in 1832.[7]
Selkirkshire County Council was created in 1890 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889, which established elected county councils across Scotland. The 1889 Act also instigated a review of boundaries, particularly whereburghs 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 ofGalashiels was brought entirely within Selkirkshire, where it had previously been partly inRoxburghshire.[8] Selkirkshire County Council met at theCounty Buildings on Ettrick Terrace in Selkirk, which had been built in 1870 as asheriff court and meeting place for theCommissioners of Supply, the main administrative body for the county prior to the creation of the county council.[9][10][11] The council's staff were based at the Bank of Scotland Buildings in the Market Place in Selkirk.[12][13]
The county council was abolished in 1975 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which reorganised local government in Scotland into upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Selkirkshire became part of theBorders region and part of theEttrick and Lauderdale district.[14]
At the time of the local government reorganisation in 1975, the posts oflord-lieutenant of Selkirkshire and lord-lieutenant ofRoxburghshire were both held byJohn Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch. The new district of Ettrick and Lauderdale and the neighbouring district ofRoxburgh became nominally separatelieutenancy areas, although the Duke of Buccleuch was appointed to both positions, effectively continuing the pre-1975 arrangement.[15] When local government was reorganised again in 1996, the two lieutenancies were formally united into a single lieutenancy area calledRoxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale.[16]
Folk ballads written of the county commemorate theBattle of Philiphaugh in 1645, the 'Dowie Dens' atYarrow and Tibbie Shiels atSt Mary's Loch.
Selkirkshire is a rural county, with a handful of small settlements set within hill and forest country. It forms part of theSouthern Uplands geographical region. TheEttrick Water andYarrow Water, both tributaries of theriver Tweed, flow through the county. The most prominent loch isSt Mary's Loch (including the Loch of the Lowes), with smaller lochs being found east of this such asAkermoor Loch,Shaws Under Loch,Shaws Upper Loch,Halemoor Loch,Alemoor Reservoir,Clearburn Loch,Kingside Loch,Crooked Loch andWindylaw Loch. The traditional highest point (county top) of Selkirkshire prior to border changes in the 20th century wasDun Rig, with a height of 744 metres (2,441 ft) above sea level.
Ettrick Forest, also known asSelkirk and Traquair Forests, is a formerroyal forest in theScottish Borders area ofScotland. It is a large area ofmoorland, south ofPeebles, that once stretched fromAyr toSelkirk.
TheBorders Railway connects Galashiels and Tweedbank withEdinburgh. Closed for many years, this line re-opened in 2015.[18]There are also buses toBerwick-Upon-Tweed andCarlisle operated byBorders 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:
Population of the county by Civil Parish, according to the latest census (2011):[21][22]
| Civil Parish | Area (acres) | Pop. 2011 |
|---|---|---|
| Ashkirk | 13,159 | 246 |
| Caddonfoot | 19,252 | 912 |
| Ettrick | 42,456 | 83 |
| Galashiels | 6,487 | 10,081 |
| Kirkhope | 22,734 | 263 |
| Selkirk | 17,854 | 6,401 |
| Yarrow | 48,851 | 281 |
| COUNTY | 170,793 | 18,267 |
The population of the towns in the county (in 2011):[23]
Historical population of the county as returned by thecensus was as follows:[25]
...at a meeting of Selkirk County Council in the County Buildings, Selkirk, on Thursday evening...
The archeology and historic buildings of the county were documented in 1957 by theRoyal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland.There is also aHistory of Selkirkshire by T. Craig Brown, published in 1886.
