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Updated 06/17/2013

Common Riding

Common Riding is an annual event celebrated in Border towns, to commemorate the times of the past when local men risked their lives in order to protect their town and people.

The oldest Common Ridings are held at Hawick, Selkirk, Langholm and Lauder, with histories tracing back over hundreds of years, though most border towns hold some type of similar event each year

The Hawick Common-Riding is the first of the Border festivals and celebrates the ancient custom of riding the boundaries of the parish/marches and the capture of an English Flag in 1514. The Common-Riding proper takes place in June on a Friday and Saturday. 

The Selkirk Common Riding remembers the young men who rode around their town’s boundaries checking for encroachments by neighboring settlements. The job was one often brimming with danger, with risk of murder or kidnapping never far from the minds of those who ventured out. It also remembers how after the disastrous Battle of Flodden Field only one man from the town (the Town Clerk) returned.

Langholm's Common Riding ("Langholm's Great Day") attracts a large number of Langholmite exiles and also tourists from all over the world. The Public election for Cornet takes place in May.