Place:Dunbartonshire, Scotland

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia Dunbartonshire was a traditional county of Scotland until 1975. It was located in the west central lowlands of Scotland and lay to the north of the River Clyde. It was a primary unit of local government with its county town and administrative centre at the town of Dumbarton. The two parishs of Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld were never contiguous with the rest of the county, but separated by a part of Stirlingshire. In 1975 Dunbartonshire was joined with Lanarkshire, Bute and parts of Renfrewshire to become the Strathclyde Region. In 1996 Strathclyde was abolished and Dunbartonshire was split into four. Two of the unitary council areas formed, namely East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire were made up of areas that had always been part of Dunbartonshire; the third, the westernmost, portion joined the newly formed Argyll and Bute Council Area; the fourth, the parish of Cumbernauld, became part of the North Lanarkshire Council Area. The administrative headquarters for East Dunbartonshire are at Kirkintilloch, and for West Dunbartonshire at Dumbarton. Dunbartonshire retains its place as a lieutenancy area and registration county.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Dunbartonshire.

under the heading "Boundaries".

Although it appears landlocked on small maps the western part of Dunbartonshire is separated from other counties by water. It is bounded on the south by the River Clyde with Renfrewshire on the southern bank. At its southwestern point the River Clyde turns south and becomes the Firth of Clyde, having been joined at this point by the waters of Loch Long and the Gareloch both flowing from the north. Rosneath Parish is a peninsula between these two lochs. Much of the eastern boundary of the county is made up of Loch Lomond.

A spelling note: Traditionally the county is spelled Dunbartonshire, but the town is spelled Dumbarton. There are many who would break this rule--some by accident, some by design.

Research Tips

Sources for Old Parish Registers Records, Vital Records and Censuses

• Scotlands People, the website of the Scottish Register Office provides

• official civil (from 1855) and parish registers (from when first produced) for births, marriages and deaths for all of Scotland
• original census images for all years available (1841-1911).
• collections of wills and testaments and
• property tax listings
• an extensive collection of local maps
• kirk session records for individual parishes (added in 2021 and not yet complete).

This site is extremely easy to use. There are charges for parish register entries, collections of wills, and census listings (the 1881 census is free to view, also on Ancestry and FindMyPast). The charges are reasonable and payable by online transfer. Viewing the kirk session records is free, but a charge will be made for a copy.

• The National Library of Scotland have an online map collection of historic and modern day maps which can zoom in on a specific farmhouse or street in a town. Their collection also includes London and some counties of southeast England.
• Gazetteer for Scotland contains an article for each parish from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland by F. H. Groome, (published 1882-4) and short details about each parish today including names of small settlements within a parish.
• The FamilySearch Wiki explains a great many legal terms only found in Scotland and provides a gazetteer for genealogists for each parish across the county. It reviews the availablility of parish registers.
• GENUKI Scotland which provides for each Scottish parish (indexed by county), amongst other data, complete quotations from A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1851) by Samuel Lewis, John Bartholomew's A Gazetteer of the British Isles (1877), and possibly other gazetteers from individual counties and regions. It is worth reviewing one of its county pages to see what is available online or in print from local archive providers. Each county page has a "Where in ---shire is .... ? section--very helpful in pinpointing the small places below parish level.
• A list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the website of the Scottish Association of Family History Societies.
• The Statistical Accounts of Scotland Online provides access to digitised and fully searchable versions of both the Old Statistical Account (1791-99) and the New Statistical Account (1834-45). These uniquely rich and detailed parish reports, usually written by local Church of Scotland ministers, detail social conditions in Scotland and are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in Scottish history.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Dunbartonshire. The contributor provides a short reference list under "Bibliography".
• Scottish Places article on the county of Dunbartonshire. The tabs of the right provide more information, and comparitive maps. Further information can be found by referencing the parishes and towns of the county.
• The FamilySearch Wiki article on Dunbartonahire provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the county.