Selkirkshire

SELKIRKSHIRE, southern county, Scotland, bounded north by Peeblesshire and Midlothian, east and south-east by Roxburgh shire, south and south-west by Dumfriesshire and west by Peebles shire. Its area is 170,793 acres (excluding water). Almost the whole is hilly, the only low ground occurring in the larger valleys; the rocks are Silurian and Ordovician, much folded. The highest hills are in the west and south-west. On the confines of Peebles shire the chief height is Broad Law (2,723 ft.), and on the Dum friesshire border, Ettrick Pen (2,269). A great deal of boulder clay covers the older rocks ; the ice-borne material travelled from west to east, and many of the hills show steep and bare slopes towards the west, but have gentle slopes covered with glacial deposits on the eastern side. The principal rivers are the Ettrick (32 m.) and its left-hand affluent the Yarrow (14 m.), but for a few miles the Tweed traverses the north of the county. Gala Water (21 m.), though it joins the Tweed a little below Gala shiels, belongs rather to Midlothian, since it rises in the Moorfoot Hills and for most of its course flows in that shire. St. Mary's Loch and its adjunct, the Loch of the Lornes, are the chief lakes, and there are numerous small lakes in the south-east. The vales of Tweed and Yarrow and Ettrickdale are the principal valleys.

History and Antiquities.

There are no Roman remains in Selkirkshire, the natives probably being held in check from the station at Newstead near the Eildons. The Standing Stone near Yarrow church bearing a Latin inscription is ascribed to the 5th or 6th century and is only a quasi-Roman relic. No so called British camps have been found on the upper and middle waters of the Ettrick and Yarrow, and of the few situated in the lower valleys of these streams the most important is the large work on Rink Hill in the parish of Galashiels, the district containing various interesting prehistoric remains. At Torwood lee, 2 m. north-west of Galashiels, are the ruins of the only example of a broth (round tower) in the Border counties. The barrier known as the Catrail, or Picts' Work, starts near Tor woodlee, whence it runs southwards to Rink Hill. There it sweeps round to the south-west as far as Yarrow church, from which it again takes a due south direction to the valley of the Rankle, where it passes into Roxburghshire. The history of the shire for six centuries following the retreat of the Romans is that of the whole of south-eastern Scotland. The country formed part, first, of the British kingdom of Strathclyde, then of the Saxon kingdom of Northumbria, and finally, about 1020, was annexed to Scotland. The first sheriff of whom there is record was Andrew de Synton, appointed by William the Lion (d. 1214).

To the north of Hangingshaw in the country between the Yarrow and Tweed William Wallace constructed an earthwork in 1297, still called Wallace's Trench, i,000 ft. long, and terminat

ing on the top of a hill in a large square enclosure. Here he lay till his plans were completed and at last departed, his forces including a body of Selkirk archers, for a raid into the north of England. During the prolonged strife that followed the death of Robert Bruce (1329) the foresters were constantly fighting, and the county suffered more heavily at Flodden (1513) than any other district. The lawlessness of the Borderers was at length put down by James V. with a strong hand. He parcelled out the forest in districts, and to each appointed a keeper to enforce order and protect property. In 1529 the ringleaders, including William Cockburn of Henderland, Adam Scott of Tushielaw and the notorious Johnnie Armstrong, were arrested and promptly executed. This severity gradually had the desired effect, though after the union of the crowns in 1603 the freebooters and moss troopers again threatened to be troublesome, until James VI.'s lieutenants ruthlessly stamped out disaffection. The Covenanters held many conventicles in the uplands, and their general, David Leslie, routed the marquis of Montrose at Philiphaugh in 1645 the soil is mostly thin, over a subsoil of clayey till, agriculture is carried on at a disadvantage. About one-sixth of the surface is under cultivation; oats, turnips and a little barley are grown. Live stock is pursued more profitably, the sheep walks carrying heavy stocks; cheviots are the principal breed. Over half the holdings are over 1 oo acres, and the average size is 126 acres. More than one-third of the county (upwards of 6o,000 acres) belongs to the duke of Buccleuch. The land between the Ettrick and the Tweed was formerly covered with forest to such an extent that the sheriffdom was described as Ettrick Forest, and became the hunting-ground of the Stuarts. James V., however, to increase his revenues, let the domain for grazing, and it was soon converted into pasture for sheep.

Woollen manufactures (tweeds, tartans, yarn and hosiery) are the predominant industry at Galashiels and Selkirk. Tanning is carried on at Galashiels.

The only railway communication is in the north, where there is a branch line from Galashiels to Selkirk, besides part of the track of the Waverley route from Edinburgh to the south and the line from Galashiels to Peebles.

Population and

1931 the population was 22,608; 61 persons spoke Gaelic and English and one Gaelic only. Selkirk (pop. 5,667) is the county town and only royal burgh. Galashiels (pop. 13,102) is the largest town and the only other burgh. Selkirkshire combines with Roxburgh to return a member to Parliament, and the shires of Selkirk, Roxburgh and Berwick form a sheriffdom, with a resident sheriff-substitute at Selkirk. The county is under school board jurisdiction, and there are high schools at Selkirk and Galashiels.