Orkney

Contents

Birsay

• Bibliography
  
• Church Records
  
• Civil Registration
  
• Description and Travel
  
• Gazetteers
  
• Genealogy
  

Bibliography

• The Division of the Birsay Commonty: by David Scarth. Published in The Orkney View 1994 Feb pp26-27.
• The Landscape of Medieval Birsay: by William P. L. Thomson. Published 1995 in Northern Isles Connections
  ed. B. Crawford pp47-75.
• The Place-Names of Birsay: by Hugh Marwick, with Introduction by W. F. H. Nicolaisen. Published Aberdeen 1970. 147pp.
• Birsay's Forgotten Palace: by Robert Rendall. Published: Orkney Herald 21 April 1959.
• Birsay Church History: by Rev Alexander Goodfellow. Published 1903.

Church Records

• Baptisms, 1645-1854. No entries Apr 1648-June 1654, Feb 1666-June 1669, and May 1673-July 1681. Incomplete 1742, 1756-58, and 1763-68.
• Marriages, 1654-1854. No entries Jan 1666-Nov 1669, Dec 1669-Nov 1670, Jan 1673-Nov 1681, Dec 1699-Dec 1701, and only one entry from June 1763-Mar 1769. Incomplete 1755-58, inclusive. Record of contrarcts of marriage, 1654-1672. No entries 1664-69.
• Burials. No entries.

• Ref: OCR/FC/3: Twatt Kirk baptisms 1876-1946.
• Ref: OCR/FC/4: Original Secession Kirk Communion Roll 1898-1957.
• Ref: OCR/KC/5: Birsay Kirk baptisms 1855-1867 and 1912-1956, marriages 1855-1868, and Communion Roll 1876-1969.

Civil Registration

The Registrar of births, deaths, and marriages for the parish of Birsay.
The Registrar's records extend back only as far as 1st January 1855 when registration became compulsory in Scotland.

Description and Travel

Orknet has a page which contains a description and pictures of Birsay

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Gazetteers

• The transcription of the section for Birsay from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

Genealogy

Orkney Family History Researchers are engaged in researching family histories in Birsay and all other parishes in Orkney. All of them are willing to share the results of their research with others.

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