82 Transactions of the [Sess. 



IX.-THE RAINING, SELKIRK: WITH NOTICES OF ITS 

 ANTIQUITIES, TOPOGRAPHY, AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



By Mr JOHN LINDSAY. 



(EeadJan. 25, 1883.) 



Should any one, in search of quiet pastoral beauty, resolve to 



"turn aside, 

 Aiid see the Braes of Yarrow," 



he would do well to include the ancient town of Selkirk, the centre 

 of numerous Border traditions, and the scene of many stirring 

 events in the stormy days of Scotland's early history. As remote 

 as 1124 there already existed at this place a castle, a village, and 

 a church, and these seem to have arisen in the order named. The 

 roy^ hunting-ground of The Forest necessitated a royal residence, 

 while under its shadow quickly clustered a number of huts ; and then, 

 for purposes of devotion, a church was built in intimate connection 

 with the Court, and named Selechirche, from two Celtic words 

 meaning " the great church," or " the church of the king's Court." 

 Such, at least, is what some authorities give as the origin and 

 meaniua: of the name Selkirk. The little town seems to have been 

 for a lengthened period a kind of " debatable land " — the arena of 

 constant strife and the subject of varied possession. Thus we find 

 Chalmers relating, in his ' Caledonia,' that " during the long con- 

 flicts for the succession to the crown, the town of Selkirk was often 

 granted to the successive partisans of the rival kings." ^ Besides, 

 it was ever and anon roughly treated by the English, who had 

 probably learnt by bitter experience something of the fierce spirit 

 of "the foresters." As has often been related, of the eighty bur- 

 gesses of Selkirk who, under the leadership of their town-clerk, 

 followed James IV. to Flodden, but four returned — for the little 

 band had fought with desperate valour. Therefore that pathetic 

 wail which has come down to us through the centuries, that " our 

 braw foresters are a' wede awa'." In retaliation, the English, 

 shortly after Flodden, burst across the Border, and, amongst other 

 depredations, burnt the old town of Selkirk to the ground. James 

 v., however, showered on the houseless inhabitants, in return, his 

 kingly favours. Their lost charter, constituting the town a royal 

 burgh, was renewed, and 1000 acres of forest-ground, with the trees 

 for rebuilding their houses, were granted as a reward for their 

 loyalty. But in about thirty years thereafter Selkirk was again 

 burnt down, in that malicious and vandal-like progress of the Earl 



^ Chalmers, 'Caledonia,' vol. ii. p. 978. 



