Records in Speymouth 16thcentury?

[Limal]

One branch of my family hails from Speymouth in Moray.
Are there local records that can be consulted? I have some information back to about1780-1750 but then it is very sketchy and I would like to get the right info.

[GR2]

Have you looked at the free Libindx site? It allows you to search for information on Moray folk.

[Limal]

Yes I've tried that. I was wondering if there were more "local" records held as it is more difficult to get information on-line when one goes back in time.
I am trying to trace the name Winchester  back to its origins in Morayshire as it is obviously not a local name.
A historical piece I read relates that the name goes back to Bishop John Winchester, an Englishman who came to Scotland in the retinue of King JamesII. He was in fact his chaplain.
My question is -if that is the case, then were the original Winchesters in Moray all illegitimate children of the Bishop?

[GR2]

Winchester is not unusual in the Banff/Moray area. It is possible that people with the name are descendants of the 15th century Winchester, but an ancestor may have adopted the name or be a descendant of another person.

Possibilities are:

1. Look in the on-line catalogue of the National Archives of Scotland and of the National Archives for Scotland (on the same site). Key "Winchester" into the search box and see what comes up.

2. The same site will tell you what church records (parish registers, kirk session minutes etc) survive for the area.

3. If any of the Winchesters owned any land, they will appear in the register of Sasines.

4. The book "Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi" will give deatails of pre-Reformation churchmen.

5. The Register of the Great Seal is very much worth looking at (this has been published).

6. The Register of the Privy Seal (again published) could be useful.

7. The Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (published) mentions a Jaspar Winchester who was a tenant of the Bishop of Moray in the 1560s.

8. There may be Winchester wills (index on Scotland's People and can be downloaded from there for a small charge).

9. Other odds and ends e.g. the Acta Dominorum in Concilio.

[Limal]

Thank you, GR, so much for all these possibilities.
I shall start on Monday and see what I can find.
Will I be able to find some of them on the web? That is the way I have to operate as I live in Belgium.
Limal

[GR2]

Most are probably only available in good reference libraries - certainly that's the case here in Scotland. You can certainly access the National Archives of Scotland catalogue and the National Archive for Scotland catalogue on-line at any time. The descriptions of the documents are usually very good and give useful detail. For Moray, the National Archive for Scotland is often excellent as it catalogues papers for some of the families in that area.

As usual, the best thing is to work back from your known ancestor. If you work forward, you may spend a great deal of time and be led astray. There were people called Winchester in other parts of Scotland in the middle ages. Have you looked to see if anyone has already researched the Winchesters? There are people who do one-name studies and gather all they can on a particular surname.

[Limal]

Yes I've tried lots of sites to see if anyone is researching Winchester and have found a few, but none going too far back.
So I shall try with the tips you give and see where it leads. Hopefully, fingers crossed I'll find out something;
With another branch of my family, I'm amazed at what I've come up with by "googlin"!