Fashions change in sport as in everything else. Hawking and cock-fighting declined in popularity during the eighteenth century, while shooting increased. Other eighteenth century sports included curling and archery. Some towns laid out bowling greens, some developed natural golf links.

Portrait by David Allan (1744-1796) of William Inglis,
Captain of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, 1787.
© SCRAN/Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Horse races had been an annual event in many seventeenth century Scottish towns, such as Banff, Dumfries, Jedburgh, Lanark and Stirling. Racing had gone out of fashion in many such places by the mid eighteenth century, but was revived, controlled by and for the elite, in the 1790s, both in traditional centres and in new ones such as Montrose. Formal courses were laid out, some with stands, the finest being at Kelso (and still in use). The holding of races is one of the indicators of a regional centre or leisure town. Fox hunting was less popular than in England, but there were a few subscription packs of hounds set up in the early nineteenth century.

Those who did not have to walk to work developed walking as a leisure pursuit. Large gardens were designed with gravel walks where exercise could be taken in all but the wettest weather. But there were also public walks, or ‘promenades’, laid out in attractive areas in or near towns. Examples include the Back Walk at Stirling, first laid out in 1723, and the Mote Hill at Cupar.