The Selkirk Family
Who are the Selkirk Family? I should start off by saying that we have nothing at all to do with the town of Selkirk, situated in southern Scotland, 30 miles south of Edinburgh. As far as I know, there are three groups of Selkirks. The largest group is that in Fife, particularly around Kirkcaldy, where the most distinguished Selkirk, Alexander Selkirk, the original Robinson Crusoe came from. There is another group in south-west Scotland around Dumfries: this is where the Logans come from, who are commemorated by my third name. It is also where the Calderwoods come from, : there was an elderly uncle who did very beautiful handwriting who lived with us for a short time, who was a Calderwood. And then there is a smaller group in Cumberland, and that is where we come from, particularly from the small village of Beckermet.
Curiously, none of these Selkirks come anywhere near the town, and indeed county of Selkirkshire: place and people are quite separate. I should also mention that the town of Selkirk is sometimes connected with the Celtic tribe of the Selgovae, who lived in the area around Montrose in the Roman period. I do not know whether the connection is valid.
The place we really come from is Beckermet. In 2006, Current Archaeology organised a weekend conference on Hadrian’s Wall in Durham, masterminded by Matthew Symonds. We went, and after the conference, Wendy and I decided to do a little exploring, so we drove north to Selkirk, and spent two days looking round. We then drove south west and crossed down to Beckermet and spent a couple of days looking round Beckermet, and also Braystones, the coastal resort where we spent several very happy summer holidays in the 1940s. Here is the short account of Selkirk and Beckermet today.
On to Selkirk
8th January 2021