Place:Lairg, Sutherland, Scotland

NameLairg
TypeParish, Village
Coordinates58.033°N 4.4°W
Located inSutherland, Scotland     ( - 1975)
Also located inHighland Region, Scotland     (1975 - 1996)
Highland (council area), Scotland     (1996 - )
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog

Contents

The Village

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Lairg (Scottish Gaelic: An Luirg) is a village in the traditional county of Sutherland now in the Highland of Scotland. It has a population of about 900 and is situated at the southeastern end of Loch Shin. It is the centre of a sheep-farming area.

Lairg is unusual in the northern Highlands, if not unique, in being a sizeable settlement that is not on the coast. One of the reasons that Lairg is slightly larger than other non-coastal Highland villages is its central location within the County of Sutherland. Having four roads which converge in the village, it used to be known as "The Crossroads of the North". In the 19th century, it was provided with a railway station, on what is now the Far North Line. This development means that the north west of Sutherland is now easier to access. (The Far North Line links Inverness in the south with Thurso and Wick in the north.)

The Parish

Lairg is an inland parish now located in the Highland Council Area in northern mainland Scotland. It is some 27 miles (44 km) northeast of Ullapool.

Prior to 1975 the parish was located in the old county of Inverness-shire, which was replaced by the Highland Region and in 1996 by the unitary authority named the Highland Council Area.

The parish has an area of 523.2 sq. km (202 sq. miles). As well as the village of Lairg, it includes the settlements of Achany, Achfrish, Achnairn, Braemore, Colaboll, Corrykinloch, Crask Inn, Dalchork, Rhian and Tirryside.

Notes for the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area

The local archives are held by The Highland Archive Service which is based in Inverness with branches in Stornoway, Fort William and Caithness. It is "responsible for locating, preserving and making accessible archives relating to all aspects of the history of the geographical area of the Highlands."

Family history societies and historical associations covering the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area are:

These associations publish their aims on their websites as well as a list of publications. In many cases the publications are also available through the Scottish Genealogy Society (see below).

  • The FreeCen Project--Scotland has a searchable (not browsable) transcription for each of the counties in the area. Nairnshire and Caithness have the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 complete. Inverness-shire and Ross and Cromarty have 1841 complete with some work on 1851 and Sutherland has not completed 1841.

Transcriptions of Gravestone Inscriptions

  • The Scottish Genealogy Society provides a series of monumental inscriptions either in print in booklet form or on CD for each of the counties in the area (Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland). Some of the booklets cover only one graveyard, others cover a group. Prices vary. In many cases the coverage is of pre-1855 stones only--this is because gravestone inscriptions are often used by family historians as death registration equivalents in the era of the Old Parish Registers (when deaths were not universally recorded).
  • The Fearn Peninsula Graveyards Project has a paid website which allows browsing in ten graveyards in Easter Ross. They charge £2.50 for 24 hours of usage with unlimited searches.
  • An index of monumental inscriptions from Caithness compiled by D J Ryrie might prove to be a useful start for searching gravestones in that county. GENUKI states "All (?) of the monumental inscriptions (MIs) in Caithness have been collected and are in print currently from Books From Scotland amongst other places." The Scottish Genealogy Society also has a list of their holdings.
  • Sutherland cemeteries are covered in Pre-1855 tombstone inscriptions in Sutherland burial grounds by A S Cowper & I Ross, published at Edinburgh in 1989 by the Scottish Genealogy Society.
  • There are no specific notes for gravestone transcriptions for either Inverness-shire or Nairnshire in GENUKI. However, the Scottish Genealogy Society lists booklets for both counties.

Sources for Emigration Records

  • Hebrides People have a database containing lists of people who emigrated to North America from a number of parishes in the Western Isles.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Lairg. 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.