Place:Eddleston, Peeblesshire, Scotland

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

From the Borders Family History Society

"Eddleston is in the north of Peeblesshire with Midlothian to north and east. Innerleithen abuts at the southeast corner, Peebles and Lyne are on the south and Newlands is to the west.

The parish is in a broad valley through which Eddleston Water runs and which provided the route for both the road and the railway from Edinburgh to Peebles. There has been a church here since the 12th century but the current building dates from the 18th century. The parish is now [ecclesiastically] linked with the Old Parish Church in Peebles. During World War II Polish soldiers were billeted in the area and they constructed a relief map of Scotland in a pond in the grounds of Black Barony Castle."

The parish had an area of 75.1 sq. km (29 sq. miles) and is now located in the Scottish Borders Council Area. It included the settlements of Cowieslinn, Eddleston, and Redscarhead.

A note from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published in 1868, reprinted in GENUKI, states that "Four ministers in direct line of generation, great-grandfather, grandfather, father, and son, have held the incumbency of Eddleston from 1697 to the present day."

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Eddleston.

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 Peebleshire

• GENUKI has a list of references for Peeblesshire. Some of these may be superseded by more modern material.

• The Borders Family History Society provides a page of facts and publications for each of the parishes in its area. They have a lot of material and they publish monumental inscription books or CDs for many parishes. On each parish page is a map of the local area taken from either the ‘’Ordnance Survey Quarter-inch to the mile, Scotland, 1921-1923 series’’’ or ‘’’the Ordnance Survey One-inch to the mile, Popular edition, Scotland, 1920-1930 series’’. These maps are not visible immediately upon opening a page, but worthwhile scrolling down to find.

• The FreeCen Project has transcriptions of the whole of Peeblesshire online for the 1841 through 1871 censuses inclusive.

• The Eddleston Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1640-1699 and 1713-1854), marriages (1665-1696 and 1714-1854) and burials (1675-1695 and 1714-1854). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Eddleston for other church denominations. (The FamilySearch Wiki uses the spelling Eddlestone.)

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

• GENUKI article on Eddleston. These articles often include a bibliography.

• Scottish Places article on the parish of Eddleston. 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 Eddleston provides direct reference to FamilySearch holdings on many topics with respect to the parish. (The FamilySearch Wiki uses the spelling Eddlestone.)

• 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.