Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders in the south east of Scotland. It is most well-known for its annual Common Riding, which combines the annual riding of the boundaries of the town's common land with the commemoration of a victory of local youths over an English raiding party in 1514. In March 2007 this was described by the Rough Guide tourism guide as one of the best parties in the world. BBC News

It is one of the furthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale and the largest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. It is also known for quality knitwear production and as the home of Hawick Rugby Football Club, one of the world's oldest and most famous sides. Another favourite sport in the town is Bowls. There are three clubs; Wilton, Hawick and Buccleuch, each holding a long span of history.

People from Hawick call themselves "Teries", after a traditional song which includes the line "Teribus ye teri odin".

Hawick lies in the valley of the Teviot at the point where the River Slitrig joins it. The A7 Edinburgh to Carlisle road passes through the town, with main roads also leading to Berwick upon Tweed (the A698) and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (the A6088, which joins the A68 at the Carter Bar, south-east of Hawick). The town lost its rail service in 1969, as part of the controversial Beeching Axe and is now said to be the furthest large town from a railway station in the United Kingdom. However there is a regular bus service to the railway station at Carlisle, 42 miles (68 km) away. The nearest airports are at Edinburgh and Newcastle.

Rivalry between the small Border towns is generally played out on the rugby union field and the comical historical antagonism continues to this day, Hawick's main rival being the similarly-sized town of Galashiels.

Hawick has distinctive sandstone buildings with slate roofs. These can be seen close to the A7.

Hawick's French twin town is Bailleul, in the Nord département.

Ba game

The long forgotten Hawick Baw game was once played here by the 'uppies' and the 'doonies' on the first Monday after the new moon in the month of February. The river of the town formed an important part of the pitch. Although the Ba game is no longer played at Hawick, it is still played at nearby Jedburgh.

Teri Talk

Many Hawick residents speak the local dialect of Border Scots which is informally known as " Teri Talk". It is similar (but not identical by any means) to the dialects spoken in surrounding towns, especially Jedburgh, Langholm and Selkirk. The speech of this general area was described in "Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland" (1873) by James Murray, this being considered the first systematic study of any dialect. The Hawick tongue retains many elements of Old English, together with particular vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, these peculiarities arising from the relative isolation of the town.

References

• Census 2001. Population figures. .
• Hawick News
• Visit Scotland's page
• Murray, James (1870-72, 1873) The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland, London: Philological Society.

See also

• Isobel Baillie
• Sir Chay Blyth
• Brian Bonsor
• John Brunton Daykins VC
• Jimmie Guthrie
• Nigel Griffiths
• Hawick Rugby Football Club
• Hawick Waverley Football Club
• James Paris Lee
• Bill McLaren
• James Murray
• Anne Redpath
• Henry Scott Riddell
• Francis George Scott
• Andrew Smith
• David Wallace
• James Wilson

External links

• Hawick Website
• The Online Resource for Hawick
• Hawick News
• Hawick Legion F.C.
• Hawick Waverley F.C.
• Hawick Common Riding Website
• Hawick Callants Club
• Visit Scotland
• Southern Scots
• Old Photographs Of Hawick And The Scottish Borders
• Photos Of Hawick
• Picture of the ba game at Hawick dated 1904
* Letter to the Editor of 'The Times' on the Hawick Ba game (1928)
• A Hawick Wordbook - Douglas Scott