Churches and Parishes in Berwickshire

[lv426]

Hi all, i am not too familiar with this subject and was wondering if anyone knew a bit more about parish boundaries in the area of Berwickshire?


My query is, members of my family tree all were born in EDROM parish. (Middlestots, Reedyloch, Blackadder, sheriffhall).
Yet the OPRs say the children were baptised in Duns.

Were parish boundaries "enforced" in those days? Was it all personal preference where you went or also family tradition?

Or was it just a matter of Duns being the bigger town? therefore bigger church?

There seem to be churches closer to middlestots etc, like in Whitsome, Swinton etc, so this is why i am asking.

Any pointers would be a great help.

Thanks in advance

 

[KGarrad]

GenUKI is usually a great help!

Have a look at: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/BEW/Edrom/index.html

and: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/BEW/Duns/index.html

The 2 parishes are contiguous.
I think a baptism could take place in any church of your choosing?

[lv426]

Hi KGarrad, thanks for those links, i was using the gazette part of genuki to see what town belonged to what church.

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/BEW/gazetteer/index.html

I will have a look at the links you sent.

I am just thinking they went to Duns either as it was the biggest or from some family tradition, if family tradition hopefully i can go further back down the family line.

It would be good if duns was the "Family" church as i might find out more infomation as at the moment i can find the childrens births but not a marriage record or the parents births.

thanks again

[terianne]

Could be the cases the family are traditional christened there or they are members of Duns Kirk.  no strict restriction on baptism in the area.

[lv426]

Thanks for the reply Terianne, that makes sense, i was originally focusing on the Edrom parish but wasn't getting much for the Ford or Anderson side so how now started searching the adjoining parishes.

If Duns is the traditional family church there may be more records further down the line.

Again cheers for the input.

 

[Sunlaws]

Hi

You don't say what date you are talking about, but after the 1730s, secession churches began to spring up, usually in the larger centres of population, so if your family had broken with the Church of Scotland, their only option in Edrom, they would have had to travel to Duns to find a secession congregation.
Regards,
Lesley

[lv426]

Hi Sunlaws, thanks for that information, the years for these particular children were 1798-1814

Out of the 7 children i only see the last 4 listed as "before the Burgher congregation in Dunse"
I am not sure if the first 3 were before the change of the church for the family or it just wasn't noted in the records.

This is what i have found about the church

"Around 1763 the ‘Burghers’ began services in Duns riding school. In 1770 they built a church next door and obtained their first minister."

I would have assumed that as soon as the church "split" the family joined the burgher church?

If so i am not sure why i can't find a record of the parents marriage there as it has to be sometime prior to 1798.

I would love to research back further.

thanks again

[mrc]

the parish of edrom comprises (currently) 3 villages, Edrom, Allanton and whitsome.  Allanton is/was the estate village of Blackadder House, now demolished.   The Blackadders were a very important family in Berwickshire who built the original house, but in more recent centuries it passed into the hands of the Humes, then the Houston Boswells.  the estate was sold off and the house demolished in about 1926.  see Genuki website, or that of the Heritage Hub Hawick.

[lv426]

Hi  mrc, thanks for that info, i will look into it.

cheers