- source: Family History Library Catalog
Fala and Soutra was a parish located in former Scottish county of Midlothian, which disappeared following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974. The area is
now in the Midlothian Council Area, some 9 miles (15 km) southeast of Bonnyrigg in Midlothian and 11 miles (17 km) southwest of Haddington in East Lothian.
The parish had an area of 26.8 sq. km (10.3 sq. miles) and had 5 neighbouring parishes; namely Crichton, Heriot, Stow which were all in Midlothian, Channelkirk, and Humbie in Berwickshire and East Lothian respectively. There were significant changes in the boundaries of this parish after the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.
The parish has records for birth dating from 1673 and for marriages from 1675. No details have been found as to when the two villages of Fala and Soutra merged into one parish.
Research Tips
Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses
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- Scotland's People This is a pay website providing vital statistics and census data for all of Scotland with original images. There is a description at Scotland under Genealogical Resources.
Further Sources of Reference
Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.
- GENUKI article on Fala and Soutra. The contributor provide one published reference under "Bibliography".
- Scottish Places article on the parish of Fala and Soutra. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparitive maps.
- The FamilySearch Wiki article on Fala and Soutra provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the parish.
- The National Library of Scotland have a website devoted to maps from the 1600s right up to the present. Comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place can be made. From the home page click on "Find by place" and then follow the instructions on the next page. Once you are viewing the place you want, use the slider <----> at the top of the map to compare the layout of roads and the place names of smaller areas, perhaps even farms, with the landscape today. The website takes some getting used to. The One-inch 2nd edition, Scotland, 1898-1904 OS is a series of maps with the parishes delineated. Each of these maps cover an area of 18 x 24 miles and will zoom to comfortable reading size with a couple of mouse clicks on the map itself. Unfortunately, they are not geo-referenced, and it is necessary to go to the OS One Inch 1885-1900 series to locate places by latitude and longitude.
- The Statistical Accounts for Scotland In the 1790s and again in the 1830s, the ministers of the all the parishes of the Church of Scotland were asked to provide a description of their parish to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. The original account request included 160 questions to be answered. These accounts are available in print in 20 volumes and are also online where it is freely available to browse. The browsing portal is below the viewing area of most computer screens. Scroll down to "For non-subscribers" and click on "Browse scanned pages". This brings you to another page on which one can enter the name of the parish in which you are interested.
- Excerpts from The Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885 are provided by Scottish Places. Selections from Groome and other gazetteers from the 19th century are also found on GENUKI.
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