Place:Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire, Scotland

Watchers
NameRuthwell
TypeParish
Coordinates55.0033°N 3.4461°W
Located inDumfriesshire, Scotland     (1723 - 1975)
See alsoDumfries and Galloway Region, Scotlandregional administration 1975-1996
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotlandunitary Council Area since 1996
source: Family History Library Catalog


Parish code for Ruthwell: 36

Ruthwell was a parish facing the Solway Firth and 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 35.2km2 (13.5 sq. miles) and had 4 neighbouring parishes: Caerlaverock, Cummertrees, Dalton and Mouswald.

The parish included the settlements of Clarencefield, Flosh, Priestside, Ruthwell, and Ruthwell Station.

Ruthwell is now located in the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area, some 7 miles (12 km) west of Annan and 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Lockerbie.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, gave Ruthwell to his nephew, Sir William Murray, confirmed to Sir John Murray, of Cockpool, in 1509 by King James VI. He was later given the title Earl of Annandale: their landownings in Ruthwell passed by inheritance to Lord Stormont in 1658, and after 1792 to the Earls of Mansfield.

Ruthwell's most famous inhabitant was the Rev. Henry Duncan. He was a minister, author, antiquarian, geologist, publisher, philanthropist, artist and businessman. In 1810 Dr Duncan opened the world's first commercial savings bank, Ruthwell Savings Bank, paying interest on its investors' modest savings. The Savings Bank Museum tells the story of early home savings in Britain. The museum is on the site of the Ruthwell Savings Bank.

In 1818, Duncan restored the Ruthwell Cross, one of the finest Anglo-Saxon crosses in the United Kingdom, now in Ruthwell church, which had been broken up in the Scottish Reformation. This cross is remarkable for its sculpture and inscriptions in Latin and Old English, some in Anglo-Saxon runes, which include excerpts from The Dream of the Rood, an Old English poem. After the Disruption of 1843 in the Church of Scotland, Dr. Duncan became one of the founding ministers of the Free Church of Scotland.

During his youth, Robert Murray M'Cheyne spent summer holidays at Clarence Cottage in the hamlet of Clarencefield near Ruthwell, the home of his maternal aunt. During these visits he would often call to see "Uncle" Henry Duncan at the manse. M'Cheyne's parents were born in this part of Scotland.


The Brow Well is situated west of the village of Ruthwell. This well, stained reddish by the high levels of iron salts in the water, is the place where Scottish poet Robert Burns hoped to cure his final illness by drinking the iron-rich water.

The village was once served by Ruthwell railway station.

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.
  • Civil Parish Historical Tax Rolls for the Nithsdale District, Dumfriesshire, are at Scotland's Places where there is a subscription to view. In 2013 the charge is £15 for 3 months use. Some of the other resources of this organization, such as their Ordnance Survey Index (currently under construction) may also be of use. See their Resources page.
  • The Ruthwell Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1723-1854), marriages (1844-1854) and burials (1773-1775). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Ruthwell for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

  • GENUKI article on Ruthwell. These articles often include a bibliography.
  • The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the parish of Ruthwell. 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 Ruthwell 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 Ruthwell. 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.