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Contained Places
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scottish Government to each subdivision.[1] Scotland is the second-largest country in the United Kingdom, and accounted for 8.3% of the population in 2012. The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century and continued to exist until 1707. By inheritance in 1603, James VI of Scotland became king of England and Ireland, thus forming a personal union of the three kingdoms. Scotland subsequently entered into a political union with the Kingdom of England on 1 May 1707 to create the new Kingdom of Great Britain.[2][3] The union also created the Parliament of Great Britain, which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England. In 1801, the Kingdom of Great Britain entered into a political union with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (in 1922, the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being officially renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927). Within Scotland, the monarchy of the United Kingdom has continued to use a variety of styles, titles and other royal symbols of statehood specific to the pre-union Kingdom of Scotland. The legal system within Scotland has also remained separate from those of England and Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland constitutes a distinct jurisdiction in both public and private law. The continued existence of legal, educational, religious and other institutions distinct from those in the remainder of the UK have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity since the 1707 incorporating union with England. In 1999, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, in the form of a devolved unicameral legislature comprising 129 members, having authority over many areas of domestic policy. The head of the Scottish Government is the first minister of Scotland, who is supported by the deputy first minister of Scotland. Scotland is represented in the United Kingdom Parliament by 59 MPs. It is also a member of the British–Irish Council, sending five members of the Scottish Parliament to the British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly, as well as being part of the Joint Ministerial Committee, represented by the first minister.
[edit] HistoryA thumbnail timeline of Scottish history:
For more detail, see the Wikipedia article on Scottish history. [edit] Organization of PlacesThe organization of Scottish places is a complicated amalgam of civil and parochial systems, both of which have suffered revisions. In particular, the civil system has been significantly revised several times since the 1960s, which can cause much confusion to the genealogist or historian looking to understand historical geography. For this reason, WeRelate uses the traditional systems as its primary means of organizing place information in Scotland, as this will correspond more directly with the vast majority of records of genealogical interest.  The primary jurisdictions of interest to the genealogist are the "traditional county" and the "parish". Scotland comprises 33 traditional counties and slightly over 900 parishes. You will see the 33 counties listed in the box to the right (under "Contained places"), and if you click into a county page, you will see its contained parishes similarly listed. If you click into a parish page, there you will see its contained towns, villages, and inhabited places. The parishes, being a church jurisdiction, actually fall into a hierarchy of presbyteries (the next level above parish) and synods (a level roughly equivalent to counties). Once you've located an ancestral place, it will be useful to explore the related places that place contains or is contained in. For example, if an ancestor came from a particular village, there may be sources and records of interest associated with the parish, the county, the presbytery, the synod, etc. Specific place pages may also contain useful information about historical jurisdiction changes. (For instance, it may be useful to know that a village used to be in a different parish or county, but boundaries were changed.) Except for the very largest cities, most Scottish place pages are named in the form "Village, County, Scotland", for example, Ballater, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. For the smaller places, or those whose names are not unique within their county, the parish may also be included in the page name, for example, Finzean, Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. In some cases, you may see "(village)" added after a village name. This is typically to distinguish it from a parish of the same name. See organization of Scottish places for further information, including all the messy details. [edit] Lieutenancy areas of Scotland
[edit] Map and Gazetteer resources
[edit] All places in Scotland[edit] Genealogical ResourcesHere is a brief list of the most significant Scottish records at a national level. More place-specific sources are listed on the county and parish pages, and further information about Scottish genealogical resources can be found in the Scotland Research Guide. [edit] Primary records
The online repository Scotlands People allows anyone to search the records in the Old Parish Registers, the statutory registers, the census and in wills and testaments without going to Register House in Edinburgh to do so. Registers of the Catholic Church are also available. It is a paid website, best accessed on a pay-as-you-go basis, by debit or credit card. The basic charge is £7(GBP) for 30 credits. Viewing an index costs 1 credit, viewing a register or census page costs 5 credits. Converting currency is done automatically. The user is kept continuously aware of the cost of their search. Topping up credits in the middle of a session is a simple procedure. Registering with the website allows free reference to a number of geographic databases and a first check on the positive availability of a surname. Search results are held onsite for users so that they can be re-inspected at a later date at no extra charge. Indexes to the statutory registers are available to 2011, but the original record images are not available to view beyond 1911 in the case of births, 1936 in the case of marriages and 1962 in the case of deaths. These dates move forward as years go on.
Note: The Family History Libraries of the Church of Latter Day Saints have microfilms of the Old Parish Registers and of the Censuses (1841-1891). These can be viewed at local Family History Centers/Centres. The censuses for 1901 and 1911 and statutory vital records are only available through ScotlandsPeople or at the General Register Office in Edinburgh. [edit] National repositories
[edit] Associations
[edit] EconomyThis section is a stub. We need a brief summary (with links to detail) of land ownership, what people did for living, etc. [edit] Cultural InstitutionsThis section is a stub. We need a brief summary (with links to more detail) of the church, clans, the peerage, education, etc. [edit] Immigration and EmigrationThis section is a stub. We need a brief summary of significant Scottish immigration/emigration movements. [edit] Research Tips[edit] Burial Grounds in ScotlandA list of Burial Grounds in Scotland is now available on the SAFHS website (the Scottish Association of Family History Societies).
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