Роксбургшир: История и география шотландского округа.

the county in New South Wales

Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh (Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the northwest, and Berwickshire to the north. To the southwest it borders Cumberland and to the southeast Northumberland, both in England. It was named after the Royal Burgh of Roxburgh, a town which declined markedly in the 15th century and is no longer in existence. Latterly, the county town of Roxburghshire was Jedburgh. The county has much the same area as Teviotdale, the basin drained by the River Teviot and tributaries, together with the adjacent stretch of the Tweed into which it flows. The term is often treated as synonymous with Roxburghshire, but may omit Liddesdale as Liddel Water drains to the west coast.

The county appears to have originated in the 12th century with the creation of the sheriffdom of Roxburgh. The first known sheriff is Gospatric (sheriff of Roxburgh). The hereditary sheriffship of Roxburghshire was possessed by the family of Douglas until the abolition of heritable jurisdictions in the 18th century. The county was constantly fought over in the Middle Ages as part of the Anglo Scottish Wars, before the border settled into roughly its modern form with the Treaty of York in 1237. The violence and lawlessness of these times gave rise to the Border Reivers. The ancient royal burgh of Roxburgh, from which the county had taken its name, fell into decay by the fifteenth century. After the demise of the town of Roxburgh, the county administration was based in Jedburgh, the county town. County Buildings were erected near the market place in 1812, in which the different courts met and the county officials transacted their business. In 1855 Alexander Jeffrey published his book "The history and antiquities of Roxburghshire and adjacent districts, from the most remote period to the present time." It ran to four volumes.

Roxburghshire is a predominantly rural county, consisting of low hills rising to the Cheviot Hills along the border with England. Just to the south of Melrose can be found Eildon Hill, a prominent local landmark. There are a few scattered lochs, though none of any significant size.

Other than terminus of the recently re opened Borders Railway, of which two stations (Galashiels and Tweedbank) lie within the county, there are no railways in Roxburghshire. There were formerly a number of lines serving the county, however these closed as a result of the Beeching cuts.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 abolished the county council and incorporated its area into the Borders Region. Borders was divided into four districts, one of which was named Roxburgh. Roxburgh District's borders broadly resembled those of the historic county, but included the parish of Nenthorn from Berwickshire, and excluded the parishes of Bowden, Lilliesleaf, Maxton, Melrose, and St Boswells, which went instead to the new Ettrick and Lauderdale District. Roxburgh District Council was based at Hawick Town Hall which had been built in 1886 for the former Hawick Town Council. The region and four district councils were abolished in 1996, merging to form the present Scottish Borders council area. A new lieutenancy area was created at the same time, called Roxburgh, Ettrick and Lauderdale, covering the combined area of the abolished districts of Roxburgh and neighbouring Ettrick and Lauderdale.

The County of Roxburgh was the first Scottish county to receive a grant of arms. This was made by Lord Lyon King of Arms on 9 July 1798. The coat of arms seems to have been granted for the use of the volunteer and militia units then being organised under the authority of the county's lord lieutenant. When the county council was formed in 1890, the arms passed to them. The shield depicted a unicorn, a national symbol of Scotland. At the top of the shield was a hunting horn between two helmets: probably a reference to the border reivers, one of whom featured in the arms of the royal burgh of Jedburgh. The crest above the shield was an armoured arm brandishing a scimitar. The Latin motto was Ne Cede Malis Sed Contra Audentior Ito or Yield not to misfortunes (evil things) but go on more boldly against them., it was a quotation from Virgil's Aeneid 6, 95. On 6 May 1975 the coat of arms was regranted to Roxburgh District Council, without the crest. When the district council was abolished in 1996, the arms reverted to The Crown.

Robert Livingston the Elder, (1654–1728), born in Ancrum, was the Secretary for Indian affairs of the New York Province and the first lord of Livingston Manor. Thomas Pringle the nineteenth century Scottish writer, poet and abolitionist was born at Blakelaw, a farmstead four miles (6 km) to the south of the town of Kelso where his father was the tenant. Henry Scott Riddell (1798–1870), the poet, was buried at Teviothead and is commemorated by a monument on a nearby hill. "Chief" Robert Riddell (1820–1921), brother of the poet, born in Teviotdale, was a Scottish Canadian pioneer and veteran of the Upper Canada Rebellion. He is noted for having pioneered the township of Beverly in Ontario. Thomas B. Scott (1829–1886), President Pro Tem of the Wisconsin State Senate.