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Lesmahagow is situated 6 miles or 9.5 km southwest of Lanark on the River Nethan. It was named after a sixth century missionary named Saint Machutus. The site developed through a priory founded 1144 where monks from Kelso became well-known for their fruit-growing. Although the priory was destroyed in the Reformation there are remains near the present parish church (built 1803). The village was caught up in the Covenanters Revolt at the end of the 17th century.
In the 19th and 20th centuries Lesmahagow was a mining village with the emphasis on minerals rather than coal. Today the area is the centre of a fertile farming region.
Research Tips
Dates of Old Parish Registers
See the parish of Lesmahagow for details
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.
Further Sources of Reference
Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.
- GENUKI article on Lesmahagow parish
- Scottish Places article on Lesmahagow Village--more information may be found by following the tabs on the right. The parish maps in this series are very useful.
- The maps website of the National Library of Scotland allows comparisons of modern-day and old maps of the same place. 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 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.
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