Scottish Borders
Geography
Area: - Total - % Water	Ranked 6th 4,732 km² ? %
Admin HQ:	Newtown St. Boswells
ISO 3166-2:	GB-SCB
ONS code:	00QE
Demographics
Population: - Total (April 29, 2001) - Density	Ranked 20th 106,764 23 / km²
Politics
Scottish Borders Council http://www.scotborders.gov.uk
Control:
MPs:	Archy Kirkwood Michael Moore
MSPs:	Euan Robson Jeremy Purvis

Scottish Borders is one of 32 unitary council regions in Scotland. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire in the north west, East Lothian, Midlothian both to the north, and the county of Northumberland in England to the south. The administrative centre of the region is Newtown St. Boswells. It covers all of the traditional counties of Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire as well as part of Midlothian.

The region was created in 1975 as a two-tier region with the districts of Berwickshire, Ettrick and Lauderdale, Roxburgh, and Tweeddale under it. On April 1, 1996 the region became a unitary council region and the districts wound up. It was originally known as Borders, and changed its name on April 25, 1996.

Geography

Geographically the region is hilly in the south, west and north, with the River Tweed flowing west to east through the region. The east of the region is primarily flat sometimes with isolated small groups of hills. The Tweed and its tributaries drain the entire region with the river flowing into the North Sea at Berwick-upon-Tweed, and forming the border with England for the last twenty miles or so of its length.

History

The administrative region was formed from four traditional counties Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire and Berwickshire but historically, the term Borders has a wider meaning, referring to all of the counties adjoining the English border, also including Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbrightshire - as well as Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland in England.

Roxburghshire and Berwickshire historically bore the brunt of the conflicts with England, both during declared wars such as the Wars of Scottish Independence, and armed raids which took place in the times of the Border Reivers. Thus, across the region are to be seen the ruins of many castles, abbeys and even towns.

Transport

The region has no railway stations. Although the area was well connected to the Victorian railway system, the branch lines that supplied it were closed in the decades following the Second World War. A bill is before the Scottish Parliament to build the Waverley Line, a commuter service south from Edinburgh to Melrose and perhaps Hawick. Presently, the nearest railway stations are Edinburgh Waverley, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Carstairs Junction .

The region also has no commercial airports - the nearest are Edinburgh and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, both of which are international airports.

The main roads to and from the region are:

• The A1, which runs along the east coast from London to Edinburgh; passing near Eyemouth.
• The A7 which runs north to south from Edinburgh to Carlisle and the M6; passing through Galashiels, Selkirk and Hawick.
• The A68 running from Darlington to Edinburgh; passing through Jedburgh and Newtown St. Boswells.
• The A72 , which runs east to west from Galashiels to Biggar; passing through Innerleithen and Peebles

Towns and villages

• Abbey St. Bathans Ashkirk
• Broughton
• Cockburnspath Coldingham Coldstream
• Denholm Dryburgh Duns
• Eddelston Ettrick Ettrick Bridge Eyemouth
• Galashiels
• Hawick
• Innerleithen
• Jedburgh
• Kelso Kirk Yetholm
• Lauder
• Melrose
• Newcastleton Newtown St. Boswells
• Peebles
• Roxburgh
• Selkirk St. Abbs Stow
• Teviothead Town Yetholm Traquair
• Walkerburn West Linton

Places of interest

• Abbotsford House
• Bowhill House
• Cheviot Hills
• Dawyck Botanic Gardens
• Dryburgh Abbey - Historic Scotland
• Ettrick Forest
• Eyemouth Museum
• Floors Castle
• Glentress Forest - Forest Enterprise
• Greenknowe Tower
• Harmony Garden - National Trust for Scotland
• Hawkshaw - ancestral home of the Porteous family
• Hermitage Castle - Historic Scotland
• Jedburgh Abbey - Historic Scotland
• Kelso Abbey
• Lammermuir
• Lauderdale, Scotland
• Manderston
• Megget Reservoir
• Mellerstain
• Melrose Abbey - Historic Scotland
• Monteviot House
• Neidpath Castle
• Pennine Way - National Trails
• Priorwood Garden - National Trust for Scotland
• Robet Smail's Printing Works - National Trust for Scotland
• Smailholm Tower - Historic Scotland
• Southern Upland Way - National Trails
• St. Abbs Head
• St. Marys Loch
• St. Ronans Wells
• Teviotdale
• Thirlestane Castle
• Traquair House
• Trimontium
• Waterloo Monument

See Also

• Scottish Lowlands

External Links

• Borders' Dialect