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Kingdom of Fife |  |
Contents |  |
Fife Towns & Parishes |  nearby places |
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| Aberdour |
Places in Aberdour parish, with links to online historical and modern maps. (The Google maps show all the places in the list; the links to www.magic.gov.uk don't apply in Scotland).
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| Please read the main Fife pages if you have not already done so. | |
A separate Records Page page gives details of the records for this parish held by Scottish archives.
A very good description is to be found in the relevant chapter in History of the County of Fife: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time by John M Leighton, published 1840, online at Google Books.
There is a chapter about Aberdour in Mercer's History of Dunfermline, published 1828, is at Google Books.
Old Aberdour (Stenlake Publishing) contains many photographs and full descriptions.
There are 2 cemeteries in Aberdour parish:
1. Aberdour St Fillans Churchyard, Hawkcraig Road, Aberdour (grid ref. NT 193854, GPS: 56.054625 -3.297350):
2. Aberdour Cemetery / Churchyard, off Mill Farm Road, Aberdour (grid ref. NT 188853, GPS: 56.053642 -3.305345):
Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 401
The 1841 return can be searched on the FreeCEN website.
The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.
Some census records on microfilm may be consulted in LDS Family History Centres around the world.
LDS Library Film Numbers:
1841 1851 1861 1871 1881 1891 Aberdour 1042699 1042252 103825 103986 203516 208746
Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Further information on the main Fife page.
In addition to the parish church, there was also a Free Church and an Episcopal Church.
The Old Statistical Account (written in the 1790s) gives this information about Dissenters:
The New Statistical Account (written in 1843) gives this information:
The 1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists only the parish church and the Free Church.
Details of church history here.
The original Old Parish Registers (of baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages, and deaths / burials) of the Church of Scotland, which cover the years up to 1854, are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh, and they can all be consulted there at the ScotlandsPeople Centre.
Parish reference number: 401
The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) span the following dates (although there are gaps within these ranges):
Aberdour OPR Births / baptisms Proclamations / marriages Deaths / burials / mortcloths 401/1 1663-1749 1650-1682
1702-17491658-1669 401/2 1749-1819 1749-1819 1790-1819 401/3 1820-1854 1820-1854 1820-1854
Data supplied by General Register Office for Scotland
The Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland, published 1872, provides this information about the content of the OPRs, including the gaps within them:
B. blank Jan. 1689 - Feb. 1691. Mothers' names not regularly recorded till about 1763.
M. only transcribed entries of Contracts, etc. prior to Dec. 1669; blank July 1682 - Oct. 1702.
D. (Burials.) Exc. entries of Earl of Morton's family, 1739 - 1848, on one page after M. for1819, the Record is blank from Oct. 1669 - April 1790. Mortcloth Dues, 1790 - Dec. 1816, after which Deaths and Burials are recorded.The baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages and deaths / burials indexes can be searched at the ScotlandsPeople website. Copies of the register entries may be purchased.
Copies of the registers on microfilm may be consulted in some local libraries and at LDS Family History Centres around the world. The indexes to baptisms / births and proclamations / marriages can also be searched on the LDS Family Search website or on the IGI on microfiche in local libraries.
LDS Library Film Numbers:
1040144 Items 3 - 5 Baptisms, 1663-1854; Marriages, 1650-1682, 1702-1855; Burials, 1658-1676, 1817-1854; Mortcloth dues (burial records), 1790-1817.
Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Deaths / burials are listed on Fife Family History Society's Pre-1855 Fife Deaths CD.
Further information on the main Fife page.
Kirk Session records are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of church records here.
Heritors' Records (HR594) are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of records here.
Most records of other churches are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Some records are still retained in the churches.
Some of the pre-1855 Episcopal Church registers have been transcribed and published.
Details of church records, transcriptions and indexes here.
The Aberdour page of the LDS Family Search Research Wiki has more information about church history and records.
Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.
Registration districts covering this parish:
| Registration district | number | start date | end date |
| Aberdour | 401 | 1855 | 1967 |
| Aberdour | 401 | 1968 | 1971 |
| Aberdour | 434 | 1972 | 1993 |
| Inverkeithing | 436 | 1994 | 2002 |
| Fife | 436 | 2003 |
Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts.
Fife Family History Society have transcribed a list of Aberdour Jurors, 1851 on their Records pages.
| Aberdour town centre | Ordnance Survey Grid Reference | GPS | Post code | Lat. 56°3'12"N |
| NT 190852 | 56.052778 -3.302105 |
KY3 0SJ | Lon. 3°18'3"W |
The parish includes the island of Inchcolm.
Surrounding parishes: Dalgety, Dunfermline, Beath, Auchtertool, Kinghorn, Burntisland.
The parish entry in Pigot's National Commercial Directory for the whole of Scotland, 1837, is online at Google Books.
Westwood's Parochial Directory for the Counties of Fife and Kinross for 1862 and 1866 are online at Google Books. On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of the 1862 edition.
There is a list of places in Aberdour parish, with links to online historical and modern maps. (The Google maps show all the places in the list; the links to www.magic.gov.uk don't apply in Scotland).
Several old gazetteers are available. They all contain descriptions of the parish and many are also worth searching for entries of places within the parish.
On 15th May 1891, a detached part of Aberdour parish was transferred to Kinghorn parish. The subjects transferred were Kilrie Farm (part) and Kilrie Gate.
A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.
Aberdour Castle is an Ancient Monument open to the public.
This British Library webpage uses small examples of historical maps of London to show the differences between maps at various scales.
The Ordnance Survey Object Name Books 1850-1854 are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre. There is an index to the entries for this parish on the Fife Council website (select A in the A-Z list, then Archives).
Andrew Campbell has produced Fife Deaths from Newspapers 1822-1854 - a compilation of deaths recorded in local newspapers. Copies of this index are held by the Fife libraries and the Family History Societies.
Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 - a compilation of overseas deaths recorded in Fife newspapers - has been produced by Andrew Campbell of Fife Family History Society. The Society have re-published it in their Publications Series, 26.
The parish is included in Andrew Campbell's compilation of Fife Shopkeepers and Traders 1820-1870 taken from newspapers and directories. It is available in most Fife reference libraries, in the libraries of the family history societies, and at the Manuscript Department of the Special Collections Department of St Andrews University Library. It is also available as Fife Traders and Shopkeepers on CD from Fife Family History Society.
The relief of paupers after 1845 was carried out by theParochial Board and later by the Parish Council. Their records are at the Fife Council Archive Centre. Details of records here.
Peter Higginbotham's website has a lot of information about Dunfermline combination poorhouse.
| Year | Population | |
| 1755 | 1198 | |
| 1801 | 1260 | |
| 1851 | 1945 | |
| 1901 | 1997 | * boundary changed |
| 1951 | 1943 |
There is a page with census statistics from 1755 to 1961 here.
See also A Vision of Britain and Histpop for population statistics.
Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Aberdour may be found in either the Dunkeld Commissariot (CC7), the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824 to 1960, commissary business was conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20). From 1960, it has been conducted at Dunfermline (SC21) Sheriff Court.
Indexes and finding aids are given on the main Fife page.
Local sources worth searching for deeds include St Andrews Commissary Court and Cupar Sheriff Court.
School Board records and / or school logbooks are held at theFife Council Archive Centre. Details of records here.
Education statistics for Fife schools in 1891-2 list the following board schools in the parish:
| School Board | School | Accommodation for scholars | Average attendance |
| Aberdour | Aberdour | 184 | 118 |
| Donibristle Colliery | 167 | 144 |
"Statistical accounts" giving fascinating insights into the local topography and history, social and economic conditions, and even the daily lives of people, were written by the parish ministers in the 1790s and the 1840s. For more information see the main Fife pages
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