B7014

The B7014 is a short urban route through Selkirk.

Muthag Street

The route starts on the A707 at the eastern end of Selkirk Bridge and heads north east along Buccleuch Road, curving away from the riverbank as it climbs slightly. After about 500m, it reaches a wide junction with the B7009 Mill Street, but keeps priority as it turns northwards, with industrial areas along the riverside on the left. This area is the flat valley floor, where Selkirk's wealth was generated in the early industrial era, while the town itself sits high above, away from the flood zone. The only turnings off Dunsdale Road are into these industrial, former Mill sites on the left, with a steeply wooded bank to the right. A flight of steps on the right to the A7 Ettrick Terrace mark the original line of the B7014 but the route now continues further north before sweeping round to the right to meet the A7 at the northern edge of the town.

History

The route was originally unclassified but had gained its number by 1927 when it is shown on the revised MOT Map. However, mystery then ensues. This map clearly labels the B7014 as reaching the A7, although there could be a gap in the route near the towns station. However, the OS Six Inch map from c1938 labels Dunsdale Road as the B7009, and the implication from the limited labels on the map is that the B7014 at that time was a short spur from the A707 as far as the Station, using the full length of Buccleuch Road (the current link to Mill Street is much newer). The post-war 1:10,000 sheet from 1957 has a B7014 label at the northern end of Buccleuch Road to support this idea, but also now labels the B7014 as reaching the A7. Both cannot be correct. It can be presumed, however, that the B7009 number was allocated earlier than the B7014, probably a year earlier, at which time it presumably either started on the A7 and followed Dunsdale Road and Mill Street, or the Mill Street section was a later addition.

The original line of the B7014 is therefore unclear, but by the late 1950s it started as above, and followed Buccleuch Road to the old Station. It then turned hard right onto Station Road and then left onto Dunsdale Road. It then forked right and climbed the steps noted above - although obviously at the time this was a steep road rather than steps - to meet the A7 Ettrick Terrace above. The diversion on Muthag Street and the extension north both post date 1971.