SELKIRK, an ancient royal burgh, and chief town of the county of Selkirk, in Scotland. It is situated on an elevation overlooking the valley of the river Ettrick, and commands an extensive view. It consists chiefly of one street, which expands at the market-place into an open space; and in it is the ancient tolbooth. In addition to this main street, there are a few small streets that diverge from it. The town has not increased in size or in importance for centuries; but it has been much improved of late years, and now contains many good houses, with a town-hall, having an elegant spire 110 feet in height, and in which there are apartments for the burgh and sheriff courts. There are two places of worship, one belonging to the established church, and the other to the United Associate Synod. A new prison has been erected at the north side of the town; and it also possesses several excellent schools, in which the classics, French, Italian, and the more usual branches, are taught.
Selkirk was formerly famed for the manufacture of shoes, in which it had an extensive trade; but it has now no manufactures of any consequence, the restrictions on trade, and the jealousy of the burghers or freemen, preventing young men of small capital from pushing business, and forcing them to repair to places more open to enterprise. The property of the burgh extends to 1784 acres, and its yearly income amounts to nearly L.1100. In 1833, its debts amounted to L.16,038. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, a treasurer, and twenty-nine councillors; and it votes with the county in returning a member to parliament. The population of the burgh and parish in 1821 amounted to 2728,
and in 1831 to 2833. The population of the burgh alone in the latter year was 1860. Selkirkshire.
During the wars between England and Scotland the citizens of Selkirk were famed for their courage. A party of them, amounting to between eighty and a hundred, under the command of the town-clerk, William Brydone, proceeded to the battle of Flodden, and fought with such gallantry that only a few returned. Brydone was afterwards knighted for his conduct; and the town received from James V. a grant of a thousand acres, as a recompense for the courage of the burghers, and for the town being totally burned by the English, in revenge for the bravery displayed by them at that battle. Brydone's sword is still in the possession of his lineal descendants; and a pennon, taken, it is believed, from the Percys, by a person of the name of Fletcher, is still kept by the successive deacons of the weavers, and displayed on all civic occasions by that corporation. A mile north from the town is Philiphaugh, where the celebrated Marquis of Montrose was defeated by the covenanters under General Leslie.