GENUKI - St Monans

Kingdom of Fife

Contents

Fife Towns & Parishes

Nearby places

St Monans (also previously known as Abercrombie)

"The parish of St Monans stands on the shores of the Firth of Forth. It is bounded by Pittenweem, Elie, Kilconquhar and Carnbee. The parish extends about 1 mile along the coast and about 1.5 miles from north - south. The fishing village of St Monans, where the majority of the parishoners live, is situated nearly halfway between Elie and Pittenweem. It is a Burgh of Barony, governed by its baron Bailies and Council. There is a Sea Box Society connected with the village; Savings Banks and other social and benevolent institutions. The villagers catch great quantities of herring, cod, ling, haddock, etc. The inhabitants of the landward parts are chiefly employed in agriculture." edited from Westwood's Directory for the counties of Fife & Kinross published 1862.

Towns and Villages

St Monans

Bibliography Burgh Records - see Town Records Cemeteries Census Church History Church Records Civil Registration Description and Travel Directories Historical Geography Maps	Monumental Inscriptions - see Cemeteries Names, Geographical Obituaries Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc. Population Probate Records Schools Town Records Wills & Testaments - see Probate Records
Please read the main Fife pages if you have not already done so.

Bibliography

Old St Monans (Stenlake Publishing) contains many photographs and full descriptions.

Cemeteries

There are 2 cemeteries in St Monans parish:

1. St Monans Old Churchyard & Cemetery (grid ref. NO 522014):

Monumental inscriptions are in Mitchell & Mitchell - see below.
Burial registers for the period from 1855 are among the Kirk Session records at the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library.
The current lair registers (dating from 1868) are administered by Fife Council, Cemeteries Department, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar KY15 4TA.

2. Abercrombie Churchyard (grid ref. NO 522034):

Monumental inscriptions are in Mitchell & Mitchell - see below.

The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions for St Monans Churchyard and Abercrombie Churchyard are listed in "Fifeshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855) vol. 1 South east parishes" by John Fowler Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society. ISBN 0901061948

Census

Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 454

The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.

Further information on the main Fife page.

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Church History

In addition to the Parish Church, there was a Free Church (later United Free, and Braehead Church of Scotland).
The 1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists only the parish church.

Church Records

The original Old Parish Records (of baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages, and 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 copies on microfilm may be consulted in local libraries and at LDS Family History Centres around the world. The baptisms / births and proclamations / marriages (but not deaths) can also be searched at Scotland's People - the online database of Scottish Birth, Marriage, Death & Census records at the General Register Office. The index can also be searched on the LDS FamilySearch website.

Deaths are listed on Fife Family History Society's Pre-1855 Fife Deaths CD.

The old parish records span the following dates (although there may be gaps within these ranges):

St Monans OPR	Births / baptisms	Proclamations / marriages	Deaths / burials / mortcloths
454/1	1628-1691	1628-1690	1674-1681; 1691-1704
454/2	1707-1819	1707-1819	1736-1817
454/3	1820-1854	1820-1854	1827-1854

Data supplied by General Register Office for Scotland

Kirk Session and similar records for both the parish church (CH2/1056) and the Free Church (CH3/1067) are held at the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library. Some Kirk Session material is to be found in the OPR records (454/1).

Heritors' Records (HR25) are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh.

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Civil Registration

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.

Registration district	number	start date	end date
St Monance (or Abercrombie)	454	1855	1967
East Neuk	426	1968	1971
East Neuk	414	1972	2002
Fife	414	2003

Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts.

Description & Travel

St Monans town centre	Ordnance Survey Grid Reference	GPS	Post code	Lat. 56°12'18"N
St Monans town centre	NO 525016	56.204614 -2.767236	KY10 2BS	Lon. 2°45'58"W

Directories

On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of Westwood's 1861 Parochial Directory of Fife - listed as Abercrombie.

Historical Geography

A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.

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Maps

Historic maps:

On-line maps:
- Ordnance Survey 6-inch, 1st edition (1855) Fife sheet 26 at the Landmark Information Group (old-maps.co.uk).
- Ordnance Survey one-inch, 2nd edition (1895) sheet 41 at the National Library of Scotland.
- Ordnance Survey one-inch, Popular edition (1926) sheets 64 & 68 at the National Library of Scotland.
- A Vision of Britain has the Ordnance Survey one-inch, 1st edition (1850s) and the Ordnance Survey one-inch, Popular edition (1920s) - both showing parish boundaries; and Land Utilisation mapping (1930s).
Paper maps:
- The Caledonian Maps Victorian Ordnance Survey Map Series sheet 41 (reprint of the 1895 one-inch map).
- Ordnance Survey one-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 56

Present-day maps:

On-line maps:
- Multimap
- Streetmap
- both Google maps and local.live provide detailed maps and aerial photographs
- Google based mapping showing nearby GENUKI townships / parishes.
- Google based mapping showing nearby places recorded in the GENUKI gazetter.
Paper maps:
- Ordnance Survey Landranger (scale 1:50000 - about 1 inch to 1 mile) sheet 59 - St Andrews
- Ordnance Survey Explorer (larger scale 1:25000 - about 2 and a half inches to 1 mile) sheet 371 - St Andrews and East Fife

Names, Geographical

The Ordnance Survey [Place] 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).

Obituaries

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 recently re-published it in their Publications Series, 30.

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Poorhouses, Poor Law, etc.

The relief of paupers after 1845 was carried out by the Parochial Board and later by the Parish Council. Their records are at the Fife Council Archive Centre.

Population

Year	Population
1755	780
1801	852
1851	1241
1901	2007
1951	1619

See also A Vision of Britain for population statistics.

Probate Records

Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of St Monans may be found in either the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824, commissary business has been conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20).

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.