Place:King Edward, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

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NameKing Edward
Alt namesKinedartsource: old spelling (GENUKI, Wikipedia)
Kineddarsource: old spelling (GENUKI)
New Bythsource: village in parish
Newbythsource: alternate spelling of above
TypeParish
Coordinates57.599°N 2.389°W
Located inAberdeenshire, Scotland     ( - 1975)
Also located inGrampian Region, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Aberdeenshire (council area), Scotland     (1996 - )


Scottish Record Office Number: 210
(used by ScotlandsPeople, see Research tips, below)

Churches: King Edward Old Parish Church, King Edward, Church of Scotland

Cemeteries: list available from the Aberdeen & NE Scotland FHS (link under Research tips)

Old Parish Register Availabilty (within FamilySearch):
Baptisms: 1701-1854
Marriages: 1783-1854
Deaths: 1852-1854

NOTE: Civil registration of vital statistics was introduced to Scotland in 1855. Prior to that date births, marriages and deaths had been recorded in local churches in the Old Parish Registers (OPRs). The OPRs were collected by the Registrar for Scotland in Edinburgh as civil registration started. Although local churches continued to record bmd after 1855, these registers were not collected and stored by the Registrar for Scotland. Some may have found their way into local archives. FamilySearch and ScotlandsPeople both keep records prior to 1855, but only ScotlandsPeople retains microfilms of the original parish books.

Missing intervals in OPRs dates may be due to non-collection of volumes (possibly through loss or damage), or the events being recorded in another book held in the parish.

:the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

King Edward (Gaelic: Cinn Eadar) is a small village and parish on the north coast of Scotland midway between Turriff and Banff. The old church of King Edward parish was founded around 1124 and dedicated to St Aidan. The last service in the old church was on 25 June 1848, after which services moved to new building alongside the main road. There is an historic graveyard at the site of the old church.

Image:King Edward2_PJ.png

King Edward has a disused station on the Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway, part of the Great North of Scotland Railway system.

Probably the best known inhabitant was William Guild (1586–1657) who was minister at the church from 1608 to 1631. Dr Guild went on to become principal at King's College, Aberdeen. Guild Street in Aberdeen is named after him.

The name of the parish has nothing to do with any "King Edward", but is a corruption of an earlier Scottish Gaelic name. The first element "King", usually appears as "kin" in Scottish placenames, and derives from "Ceann" meaning a headland. The second element is less certain but may derive from "Eadar" (between) or "cathair-thalmhainn" (yarrow). There have been approximately 24 variations of the name: Kynedor (12th Century), Kynedward and Kinedart to name a few.

Newbyth or New Byth (redirected here) is a small inland planned village in the southeast of King Edward parish in northern Aberdeenshire. It lies a few miles northeast of Cuminestown in Monquhitter parish. It was established in 1764 by James Urquhart, Esq. on his estate of Byth. A kirk was built in 1793 as a chapel of ease, and rebuilt in 1851. In 1867, it was raised to quoad sacra status. The two churches in New Byth are no longer used for church activities.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Local geography

[Condensed from A New History of Aberdeenshire, Alexander Smith (Ed), 1875], available in full on GENUKI]

King Edward parish is bounded on the north partly by the River Doveran, and the parishes of Banff and Gamrie, both in Banffshire; on the east by Aberdour, Tyrie, and New Deer; on the south by Monquhitter, and Turriff; and, on the west, partly by the River Doveran and Alvah in Banffshire. The maximum breadth of the parish, south to north, measures 6½ miles, and the greatest length, east to west, is 9½ miles. The area of the parish is 18,646 acres.

The highest point on the Doveran, in this parish, is about 40 feet above sea level and the tide flows up to the Rack-mill, about a mile and a-half south from the North Sea. The new church of King-Edward stands 230 feet, and the highest point on the range of hills bordering with Gamrie and Aberdour, on the east, is 710 feet above sea level. The hill of Luncarty is 338 feet, the Plaidy Railway Station is 248 feet, and Craigston Castle is about 286 feet above sea level.

The surface on the eastern half of the parish is hilly, though none of the hills are of great height. The western division presents a very undulating surface, but is agreeably diversified by flat tracts along the streams, rising with easy slopes into swelling rounded knolls and hills, which are all either cultivated or covered with clumps of trees. The valley of the Doveran is skirted by steep banks rising one above the other into the hills of Corskie, Montcoffer, and the higher grounds on Eden and Luncarty, and with the graceful beds of the river winding through broad fertile haughs at the bottom of the richly wooded slopes of Eden and its old castle, the scenery is varied and beautiful--a well-wooded and highly cultivated strath appears with comfortable-looking farm steads.

19th century landowners

"The mansions are, Montcoffer House, the property of the Earl of Fife, a handsome modern building, beautifully situated near his lordship's park of Duff House, Banff, which demesne is partly in this parish; Eden House and Byth House, also modern mansions, finely situated; and Craigston Castle, a venerable ancient structure, seated in grounds tastefully embellished. The village of Newbyth, which is separately described, is at the south-eastern extremity of the parish. Facility of communication is maintained by excellent roads, of which the turnpike-road from Aberdeen to Banff intersects the western portion of the parish; and by bridges over the various streams, kept in good repair." (Samuel Lewis's A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland of 1851, also available in full on GENUKI.)

Population Growth

Areaacressq mihectares
1801-190018,64629.137,546
1901-200117,529 27.39 7,094
YearPopulationDensity per sq miDensity per hectare
18011,72359.1 0.23
18512,74994.4 0.36
19012,43488.9 0.34
19511,67561.2 0.24
200187732.0 0.12

Populations 1801-1951 from A Vision of Britain through Time (http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk).
2001 population from Scotland’s Census (https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk).

Research Tips

There was formerly a note on this page that the parish was linked to the Presbytery of Deer, Synod of Aberdeen, Scotland. It would appear that since 1975 the organization of the presbyteries and synods has been revised. Readers are reminded that the Church of Scotland is Presbyterian in nature while in England the Church of England is Episcopalian. (See Wikipedia. )

  • official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
  • original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
  • references to wills and property taxes, and
  • an extensive collection of local maps.

This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries and censuses. The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer.

  • The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.
  • Scotlands Places
  • Gazetteer of Scotland includes descriptions of individual parishes from F. H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4)
  • The FamilySearch Wiki
  • GENUKI which provides, amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and A New History of Aberdeenshire edited by Alexander Smith (1875)
  • A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
  • Aberdeenshire and Moray Records. Town Council minutes, accounts, letters, plans and harbour records provided by Aberdeenshire Council plus other local records.
  • Aberdeen and North-East Scotland Family History Society is one of the largest and most reputable family history societies in Scotland and has a long list of publications referring to individual parishes.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at King Edward, Aberdeenshire. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at New Byth. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.