Selkirk

Selkirk grew because of its woollen industry, although now that industry has ceased, leaving little in its wake. The town is best known for bannocks, a dry fruit cake. It has a museum and an art gallery. The town has associations with Mungo Park (explorer); James Hogg (“The Ettrick Shepherd”), a local poet and writer; and Sir Walter Scott, a writer of romances in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is also home to Scotland’s oldest horse racing track, the Gala Rig, on the outskirts of the town. It was supposedly in the church at Selkirk, supported by nobles and clergy, that William Wallace was declared Guardian of the Kingdom of Scotland. However this is disputed; the old lands of Mauldslie near Rosebank are also reputed to be where Wallace was declared Guardian. Mauldslie Castle was built on the lands of Forest Kirk.