Source:Scotland. Old Parish Registers, Banns & Marriages

The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) comprise the records of births and baptisms, banns and marriages and deaths and burials kept by individual parishes of the Established Church (Church of Scotland) before the introduction of civil registration in 1855.

These are the records of the Church of Scotland or Presbyterian Church.

Proclamation of Banns

The proclamation of banns was the notice of contract of marriage, read out in the Kirk before the marriage took place. Couples or their 'cautioners' (sponsors) were often required to pay a 'caution' or security to prove the seriousness of their intentions. Forthcoming marriages were supposed to be proclaimed on three successive Sundays, however, in practice, all three proclamations could be made on the same day on payment of a fee. If the bride and groom lived in different parishes, the impending marriage was proclaimed in both parishes, although not necessarily on the same days, therefore the dates in each register may be different. You may also find that one register may show the proclamation date and the other the date of the marriage itself.

OPR Banns & Marriages

Parish registers may record the date(s) of the proclamation of banns or the marriage date itself or both, but only one or the other will appear in the index. There is no indication given in the index as to whether the entry is a proclamation or a marriage, but it is more usual for the index entry to show the proclamation date.

The presentation of this website was revised toward the end of 2016. Records are requested by a "search" process which accepts very wide definitions, i.e., it is possible to ask for every pre-1855 record in the whole of Scotland for a specific surname and ask for various spellings to be taken into consideration as well. Unfortunately, it is impossible to request records from a group of nearby counties all at the same time.

A successful search returns a list giving the names of the groom and bride, the date of the banns or the marriage, the name of the father of both parties, and the parish in which the marriage occurred. The county in which the parish is/was located has been omitted.

However, the record number given with the baptismal details includes a parish number and these parishes numbers link to the same parish in the OPRs, the Statutory Records (post-1855 BMDs) and the Censuses. Parish numbers follow a geographical pattern rather than an alphabetical one. The Registration District Guide is a pdf file which links parishes to their counties.

Information in an OPR Bann or Marriage Record

In some parts of the country before, say, 1840, very few marriages were recorded. This is especially true in rural areas. 'Irregular' marriages, by exchange of promises before witnesses, by betrothal and consummation, or by cohabitation and repute, were forms of marriage recognised by Scots Law, yet may have taken place without any official record of the event. But not all unreported marriages were irregular. Some ministers may have only recorded marriages that occurred in the church, but many marriages took place at the bride's home.

Do not expect too much from OPR banns & marriages records. The amount of information recorded can vary and most entries contain very little detail.

At best: date(s) of the proclamation of intended marriage and/or date of marriage, names of bride and groom and their parish of residence, sometimes the occupation of the groom, and, occasionally, the name of the bride's father.
At worst:the names of the bride and groom recorded along with the fee paid in caution.

Registers of Corrected Entries, abbreviated RCE and formerly titled Registers of Neglected Entries, were compiled for each parish by the Registrar-General after statutory registration began in 1855. These contain a small number of marriage entries proved to have occurred between 1801 and 1854, but not entered into the parish registers. These are indexed in a similar format to other OPR entries.

Suggestions

When filling in the blanks on a Search, remember that the default setting is "exact spelling". If you are unsure, particularly if the family name starts Mc or Mac, use one of the other settings.

Although the images and transcriptions provided by the Scottish Record Office are primary sources, it is difficult to give them a collection name in the formal way used by Ancestry and FamilySearch who present the transcriptions as a secondary source.

Since January 2017 the charge for viewing these records is £10 for 40 credits. Viewing one entry costs 6 credits. All payments are made by debit or credit cards through WorldPay. The user will be charged in his/her own currency. There is a lot of information available before a charge is levied. The user is not charged again to look at the same record, even if the two viewings are years apart. Records can be downloaded and saved by the user.