Selkirkshire
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 Civic heraldry of the United Kingdom |
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SELKIRKSHIRE (County Council)
Incorporated into : 1975 Borders (1996 Scottish Borders)
Official blazon
Argent, on a mount in base a stag lodged reguardant, in front of an oak tree, all Proper.
And in an Escrol under the Shield this Motto "Leal to the Border".
Origin/meaning
The arms were officially granted on July 8, 1927.
The arms are very appropriate to "the Shire of the Forest". They show a stag at rest in Ettrick Forest, a favourite Royal hunting ground. This device has a long association with the County, and was used by the Selkirkshire Volunteers; there is an example on a regimental medal dated 1807.
The arms are also said to be connected with Sir Waiter Scott, who refers to it and to the motto in a letter of 1827 addressed to the Friendly Society of Selkirk, whose flag he had been asked to design.
The stag and forest motif also appears, in a somewhat different form, in the 1799 colour of the Selkirkshire Yeomanry Cavalry.
The motto, which appears on the 1807 medal, typifies the Borderer's love of his country and is reminiscent of that used by Lord Polwarth - "True to the End"; the Polwarth family has a long connection with the County.
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© since 1995, Heraldry of the World, Ralf Hartemink 
Index of the site
Literature : Urquhart, 1979
