Place:Cromdale, Moray, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Cromdale (Scottish Gaelic: Crombail) is a village in Strathspey, in the Highland council area of Scotland, and one of the ancient parishes which formed the combined ecclesiastical (later civil) parish of Cromdale Inverallan and Alvie in the County of Moray in Scotland.

The present small, growing village of Cromdale lies on either side of where the A95 road crosses Cromdale Burn, between Grantown-on-Spey and Aberlour; the bridge is about 500 metres south of the confluence of the burn with the River Spey.

The village was within Inverness-shire until 1869, following which it became part of the Morayshire until 1975, when the county was divided between the Highland and Grampian regions; it is now within the Highland Council Area. The village retained Morayshire as its official postal address for many years after the change in local government boundaries.

The parish church and cemetery are located beside the River Spey at the end of Kirk Road beside the bridge which is the latest of three which replaced the nearby ferry. The bridge was financed by local residents, having been obtained as a War Surplus item from the War Office and erected in 1922 at a cost of £ 6889. The remains of an older bridge can be seen a short distance upstream; this (much lighter) bridge was swept away in 1894, the 1922 bridge replaced one that collapsed in 1921.

Historical References

Censuses

In various census and/or derived [transcribed] records the description of Cromdale has been used to describe the entire civil parish of Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie thus often causing an apparent mismatch between different censuses. In the 1841, 1851 and 1861 censuses it will be necessary to determine the actual locality from the descriptions on the census book pages or by the names of known locations. From 1871 onward, a record marked as being within parish number 128/2, 128B/2 or 128B2 will not be in Cromdale but in Inverallan (which contains Grantown); Advie was always enumerated with Cromdale thus requiring the relevant parish to be identified from the address or description.

Birth, marriage and death registrations

In 1855 one registration district (Cromdale, Inverallan and Advie) included all the combined parishes. From 1856 to 1965 the local registration district was Cromdale and Advie. From 1966 Cromdale has been within the Grantown on Spey registration district. It should be noted that the LDS church and other third parties have failed to distinguish the 1856 separation of records in their indexes, thus their descriptions of the registration districts do not match the official descriptions.

For a description of the 19th century parish, see the description from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) as transcribed and copyrighted by Colin Hinson and provided on the web by GENUKI.

Notes for the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area

The local archives are held by The Highland Archive Service which is based in Inverness with branches in Stornoway, Fort William and Caithness. It is "responsible for locating, preserving and making accessible archives relating to all aspects of the history of the geographical area of the Highlands."

Family history societies and historical associations covering the Highland Council Area and the Western Isles Council Area are:

• The Highland Family History Society based in Inverness.
• Lochaber and North Argyll Family History Group based in Fort William.

These associations publish their aims on their websites as well as a list of publications. In many cases the publications are also available through the Scottish Genealogy Society (see below).

• The FreeCen Project--Scotland has a searchable (not browsable) transcription for each of the counties in the area. Nairnshire and Caithness have the 1841, 1851, 1861 and 1871 complete. Inverness-shire and Ross and Cromarty have 1841 complete with some work on 1851 and Sutherland has not completed 1841.

Transcriptions of Gravestone Inscriptions

• The Scottish Genealogy Society provides a series of monumental inscriptions either in print in booklet form or on CD for each of the counties in the area (Caithness, Inverness-shire, Nairnshire, Ross and Cromarty, and Sutherland). Some of the booklets cover only one graveyard, others cover a group. Prices vary. In many cases the coverage is of pre-1855 stones only--this is because gravestone inscriptions are often used by family historians as death registration equivalents in the era of the Old Parish Registers (when deaths were not universally recorded).
• The Fearn Peninsula Graveyards Project has a paid website which allows browsing in ten graveyards in Easter Ross. They charge £2.50 for 24 hours of usage with unlimited searches.
• An index of monumental inscriptions from Caithness compiled by D J Ryrie might prove to be a useful start for searching gravestones in that county. GENUKI states "All (?) of the monumental inscriptions (MIs) in Caithness have been collected and are in print currently from Books From Scotland amongst other places." The Scottish Genealogy Society also has a list of their holdings.
• Sutherland cemeteries are covered in Pre-1855 tombstone inscriptions in Sutherland burial grounds by A S Cowper & I Ross, published at Edinburgh in 1989 by the Scottish Genealogy Society.
• There are no specific notes for gravestone transcriptions for either Inverness-shire or Nairnshire in GENUKI. However, the Scottish Genealogy Society lists booklets for both counties.

Sources for Emigration Records

• Hebrides People have a database containing lists of people who emigrated to North America from a number of parishes in the Western Isles.