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Closeburn (#6 on map) 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 118.5km2 (45.7 sq. miles) and had 7 neighbouring parishes: Keir, Kirkmahoe, Kirkmichael, Kirkpatrick-Juxta, Morton and Penpont in Dumfriesshire, and Crawford in Lanarkshire.
The parish included the settlements of Auldgirth, Blackwood, Cample, Closeburn Village, Kirkpatrick, Locherben, Park abd Shawsholm.
Closeburn is now located in the Dumfries and Galloway Council Area, some 4 miles (6 km) east of Thornhill and 11 miles (18 km) southwest of Moffat.
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Research Tips
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 Dumfriesshire
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- The FreeCen Project has transcriptions of the whole of Dumfriesshire online for the 1841 through 1871 censuses inclusive.
- The Closeburn Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1765-1854), marriages (1766-1817 and 1823-1829) and burials (1765-1815 and 1830-1847). The Kirk Session Records provide further baptisms {1726–1754 and 1812–1829), marriages (1726–1742 and 1748–1753), and deaths (1737–1741 and 1748–1753), and also marriage proclamations (1807–1814 and 1823–1829). Kirk Session Records for the Poor go back to 1718. See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Closeburn for other church denominations.
Further Sources of Reference
Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.
- GENUKI article on Closeburn. These articles often include a bibliography.
- The Gazetteer for Scotland article on the parish of Closeburn. 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 Closeburn 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.
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