Place:Lyne, Peeblesshire, Scotland

source: Family History Library Catalog

Originally named Lyne and Megget parish; Megget was a detached part of Peeblesshire transferred to Selkirkshire in 1891.

From the Borders Family History Society

"Lyne is a small parish in the County of Peebles lying just to the west of the county town. It is bounded on the north by Eddleston with Peebles to the east, Stobo to the south and Newlands on the west. Lyne Water runs through the parish and the main settlement is around the disused station on the former Caledonian Railway line to Peebles. The church is about a mile away on a slight rise to the north of the A72. There are the remains of a Roman Fort near Lyne Water. Meggett is united with Lyne, although they have no common border. They now form part of the combined [ecclesiastical] parish of Lyne & Manor although yet again the two parishes do not share a boundary.

"Meggett is located on the southern edge of Peeblesshire on the border with Selkirkshire and Dumfriesshire. There is no longer a church but the ruins of St Mary's Kirkyard can be seen near the western end of St Mary's Loch."

Lyne had an area of 11.3km² (4.3 sq. miles) and had three settlements: Hallyne, Hamildean and the village of Lyne.

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 Some of these may be superseded by more modern material.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 Lyne Parish Registers for the Church of Scotland provide records of baptisms (1649-1854), marriages (1649-1854) and burials (1840-1854). See the FamilySearch Wiki article on Lyne & Megget for other church denominations.

Further Sources of Reference

Please note and respect the copyright warnings on these websites.

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

• Scottish Places article on the parish of Lyne. 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 Lyne & Megget 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.