Why Scottish Border Towns Still Ride Their Boundaries Every Summer

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This is the Common Riding — and if you’ve never heard of it, you’re not alone. It is one of Scotland’s most fiercely loved traditions, and one of its best-kept secrets.

What Is a Common Riding?

In medieval Scotland, Border towns depended on their “common land” — shared grazing ground and pasture that belonged to the whole community. To protect these boundaries, the town would send riders out on horseback each year to physically check the markers and confirm that no neighbouring landowner had encroached.

That annual riding of the marches became a civic ritual. It became a point of pride. And over the centuries, as the legal need faded, the tradition simply refused to die.

Today, each Border town holds its own version. The date, the ceremonies, and the names differ. But the heart of every Common Riding is the same: local people, on horseback, following the boundaries of their town.

The Cornet: A Town’s Most Important Young Man

In most Border towns, the Common Riding centres on one figure: the Cornet. He is a young local man, unmarried, chosen to carry the town flag — the “colours” — throughout the week of ceremonies.

Being chosen as Cornet is considered one of the highest honours a young man from a Border town can receive. It comes with responsibility. He must ride hard, lead the cavalcade, and carry the flag without letting it touch the ground. In Hawick, the crowds lining the streets watch his every move.

He doesn’t do it alone. Hundreds of riders accompany him on the principal ride — early in the morning, often before 6am, across miles of Border countryside. By the time they return, the whole town has come out to watch.

Hawick: Where It Never Stopped

Hawick holds the oldest documented Common Riding, with records stretching back to 1703 — though the tradition is almost certainly older. It takes place in early June and draws riders from across the region.

The principal ride leaves town in the early morning and covers the full extent of the marches — a route that takes several hours on horseback. On the return, the Cornet leads the cavalcade through the streets to the sound of the town’s traditional song, Teribus ye Teri Odin.

The week builds to this moment. Every evening in the lead-up, there are gatherings, songs, and ceremonies that the people of Hawick know by heart. To an outsider it can seem bewildering. To someone who grew up there, it is everything.

If Scotland’s long tradition of outdoor celebrations resonates with you, the Highland Games offer another window into community gatherings that have endured for centuries.

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Selkirk: The Most Emotional Moment in the Borders

If Hawick is the oldest, Selkirk’s Common Riding is the most emotionally charged. It takes place in June and draws enormous crowds — far beyond what the town’s population might suggest.

The centrepiece is the Casting of the Colours. After the ride, the Standard Bearer returns to the market square and performs a series of intricate flag movements — a ceremony that dates back centuries and is performed in near-silence as the crowd watches.

Nobody speaks during the Casting. It is one of those rare moments in Scottish life when an entire crowd holds its breath together. People who grew up in Selkirk but moved away decades ago make a point of returning every year for this.

Other Towns, Other Ceremonies

The Common Ridings of the Borders are not all the same. Each town has shaped the tradition in its own way.

Galashiels holds the Braw Lads Gathering in late June, combining the riding with a colourful civic pageant. Jedburgh’s Callants Festival stretches across a full week in July, with the young riders known as Callants rather than Cornets.

Langholm in July, Peebles in June, Lauder in August — each has its own songs, its own ceremonies, its own language. The full festival calendar of the Borders runs through the entire summer.

Together they form a tradition found nowhere else in Scotland, and nowhere else in the world.

Why the Common Ridings Matter

It would be easy to dismiss the Common Ridings as nostalgia. They are not. They are something rarer: a living tradition that genuinely means something to the people who take part.

Riders train for months. Families pass down their involvement across generations. Children grow up knowing the songs. When the Cornet raises the flag, nobody is performing for tourists — they are doing something that their grandparents did, and their grandparents before them.

That continuity, in a world that moves fast, is worth paying attention to.

What is the best time to visit the Common Ridings in Scotland?

The main Common Ridings season runs from late May through August, with most events concentrated in June and July. Hawick and Selkirk both hold their ceremonies in early to mid-June, making that the best time for first-time visitors wanting to see the tradition at its most intense.

Where do the Scottish Common Ridings take place?

The Common Ridings are unique to the Scottish Borders region, centred on towns including Hawick, Selkirk, Galashiels, Jedburgh, Langholm, Lauder, and Peebles. The area lies roughly an hour south of Edinburgh by car, making it accessible as a day trip or short stay.

Can visitors attend the Scottish Common Ridings?

Yes — most Common Ridings welcome visitors, and the street ceremonies are free to watch. The principal cavalcade ride and the town ceremonies take place in public spaces. Some evening events are ticketed, but the main spectacle of hundreds of riders moving through the town is open to all.

What is the Casting of the Colours at Selkirk Common Riding?

The Casting of the Colours is the most famous ceremony of the Selkirk Common Riding. After the principal ride, the Standard Bearer performs a series of formal flag movements in the market square while the crowd stands in silence. It is considered one of the most moving public ceremonies in Scotland.

The Common Ridings don’t ask anything of visitors except presence. Show up, find a spot on the street as the riders come through, and watch. You’ll feel something shift in the morning air, and understand why Border towns have never let this go.

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