Place:Roberton, Selkirkshire, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

Roberton was a parish in the former county of Selkirkshire, which ceased to exist following the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1974. The parish had an area of 119.9² (46.3 sq. miles) and had 6 neighbouring parishes: Hawick and Teviothead in Roxburghshire, Ashkirk, Ettrick and Kirkhope in Selkirkshire, and Eskdalemuir in Dumfriesshire.

Roberton is now located in the Scottish Borders Council Area, some 8 miles (13 km) west of Hawick and 16 miles (26 km) north of Langholm (in Dumfries and Galloway). It has three settlements: Roberton, Craik and Howpasley.

Roberton includes part of the ancient parish of Hassendean. A lengthy description of the ancient parish from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, and published in 1868, can be found in GENUKI.

Research Tips

NOTE: There is some dispute as to whether Roberton should be classified as having been in Roxburghshire or Selkirkshire. Both counties should be consulted for Old Parish Registers, civil registrations and censuses. From the Borders Family History Society:

"Roberton is a rural Parish partly in the County of Selkirk and partly in the County of Roxburgh. It is bounded on the north by the Parishes of Ashkirk and Wilton, on the east by the Parishes of Hawick and Teviothead all in Roxburghshire, on the south by the County of Dumfries and on the west by the Parishes of Ettrick and Kirkhope. It is now part of Hawick Teviot ecclesiastical parish."

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

• FamilySearch (Indexes only)

• 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 Selkirkshire

• GENUKI has a list of references for Selkirkshire. Some of these may be superseded by more modern material.

• The Borders Family History Society provides a page of facts and publications for each of the parishes in its area. They have a lot of material and they publish monumental inscription books or CDs for many parishes. On each parish page is a map of the local area taken from either the Ordnance Survey Quarter-inch to the mile, Scotland, 1921-1923 series or the Ordnance Survey One-inch to the mile, Popular edition, Scotland, 1920-1930 series. These maps are not visible immediately upon opening a page, but worthwhile scrolling down to find.

• The FreeCen Project has transcriptions of the whole of Selkirkshire online for 1841, 1851 and 1861.

• The Roberton Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1679-1822 and 1820-1854), marriages (1679-1762 and 1701-1856) and burials (1744-1801). There is a page of baptismal entries for Hassendean Parish, 1687–1688 and four entries for marriages for the same two-year period. See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Roberton for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Roberton. These articles often include a bibliography.

• Scottish Places article on the parish of Roberton. The tabs of 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 Roberton 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.