Place:Moffat, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

NameMoffat
TypeParish
Coordinates55.333°N 3.45°W
Located inDumfriesshire, Scotland     (1709 - 1975)
See alsoLanarkshire, Scotlandpart until 1891
Dumfries and Galloway Region, Scotlandregional administration 1975-1996
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotlandunitary Council Area since 1996
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names


Parish code for Moffat: 32

Moffat was a parish located in the former county of Dumfriesshire. Both county and parish ceased to exist following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974. The parish had an area of 174.7km2 (67.4 sq. miles) and had 7 neighbouring parishes: Eskdalemuir, Kirkpatrick-Juxta and Wamphray in Dumfriesshire; Ettrick and Yarrow in Selkirkshire; Tweedsmuir in Peeblesshire, and Crawford in Lanarkshire. The boundaries of this parish were modified among significant changes recommended by the Boundary Commissioners after the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.

The parish included the settlements of Birkhill, Bridgend, Capplegill, Howslack, the town of Moffat, Polmoodie and Roundstonefoot.

Moffat is now located in the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area, some 16 miles (27 km) northeast of Thornhill and 17 miles (28 km) north of Lockerbie in Dumfries and Galloway.

Contents

Research Tips

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

  • 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.

Notes for Dumfriesshire

  • The FreeCen Project has transcriptions of the whole of Dumfriesshire online for the 1841 through 1871 censuses inclusive.
  • The Moffat Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1723-1854), marriages (1709-1854) and burials (1709-1735 and 1825-1853). The surviving records of the Kirk Session include Minutes for the period 1843–1862 and a separate Book of Discipline for 1820–1843. These are available at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Moffat for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

  • GENUKI article on Moffat. These articles often include a bibliography.
  • The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the parish of Moffat. The tabs on the right provide more information, and a map of the parish within its surrounding area, with small settlements highlighted and linked to more information.
  • The FamilySearch Wiki article on Moffat 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.



This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Moffat. 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.