Scottish Borders

Scotland

Description: The Scottish Borders, also known by its residents as "The Mairches." It is one of the thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares it's borders with the council areas known as Dumfries and Galloway, South Lanarkshire, West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian. It in turn, is bordered to the south and east by the non-metropolitan counties of Cumbria and Northumberland in England. The administrative center of the area is Newtown St. Boswells.

Etymology: Historically, the name Scottish Borders designated the entire border region of southern Scotland and, together with neighboring areas of England, was part of the historical Borders region.

Geography

Location: The Scottish Borders are located in the eastern part of the Southern Uplands.

Topography: The region is hilly and largely rural, with the River Tweed flowing west to east through the region. In the east of the region the area that borders the River Tweed is flat and is known as "The Merse." The Tweed and its tributaries drain the entire region with the river flowing into the North Sea at the town Berwick-upon-Tweed, and forming the border with England for the last twenty miles or so of its length.

Notes: The term "Central Borders" refers to the area in which the majority of the main towns of Galashiels, Selkirk, Hawick, Jedburgh, Earlston, Kelso, Newtown St. Boswells, St Boswells, Peebles, Melrose and Tweedbank are located.

Towns and Villages

• -- Abbey St. Bathans (a tiny village in Berwickshire in the eastern part of the Scottish Borders)
• -- Allanton (a small village in the pre-1975 ancient county of Berwickshire)
• -- Ancrum (a tiny village of 392 people, 4 miles north of Jedburgh)
• -- Ashkirk (another tiny village, it lies directly 6 miles between Selkirk and Hawick)
• -- Broughton (a village about 7 km east of Biggar, and 15 km west of Peebles)
• -- Burnmouth
• -- Cardrona
• -- Chirnside
• -- Clovenfords
• -- Cockburnspath
• -- Coldingham
• -- Coldstream
• -- Denholm
• -- Dryburgh
• -- Duns
• -- Earlston
• -- Edrom
• -- Eddleston
• -- Ettrick
• -- Ettrickbridge
• -- Eyemouth
• -- Foulden
• -- Galashiels
• -- Grantshouse
• -- Greenlaw
• -- Hawick
• -- Heriot
• -- Hutton
• -- Innerleithen
• -- Jedburgh
• -- Kelso
• -- Kirk Yetholm
• -- Lauder
• -- Lilliesleaf
• -- Longformacus
• -- Melrose
• -- Newcastleton
• -- Newstead
• -- Newtown St. Boswells
• -- Peebles
• -- Preston
• -- Roxburgh
• -- Selkirk
• -- St. Abbs
• -- St. Boswells
• -- Stow
• -- Stichill
• -- Teviothead
• -- Town Yetholm
• -- Traquair
• -- Tweedbank
• -- Tweedsmuir
• -- Walkerburn
• -- West Linton
• -- Whitsome
• -- Yair

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Borders

http://www.bestoftheborders.co.uk/index.htm