Wigtownshire

Wigtownshire Contents

Nearby Places

Glasserton

Villages

Places in Glasserton parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.

Archives, Libraries and Museums

A separate Records Page page gives details of the records for this parish held by Scottish archives.

• catalogue entries for maps and plans held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh
• details of historical buildings and archaeological sites held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Cemeteries

There is a churchyard and 1 ancient burial ground in Glasserton parish:

• The graveyard is administered by Local Services, Culhorn Depot, Commerce Road, Stranraer, DG9 7DE. Tel: 03033333000
• Monumental Inscriptions were recorded by J E Birchman. Copies are in local libraries, at the Ewart Library, Dumfries, and at the Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society.
• Information from Historic Churchyards in Dumfries & Galloway.

• An ancient church, now in ruins.
• The burial place of the Maxwell family of Monreith.
• A listed building.
• Contains a plaque to French naval officer Francois Thurot, killed 1760. Picture at Geograph.
• Information from Historic Churchyards in Dumfries & Galloway.

Census

Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 885

The 1841 and 1851 returns can be searched on the FreeCEN website.

There is an online index to the 1851 census created by the Friends of the Archives of Dumfries and Galloway.

Some census records on microfilm may be consulted in LDS Family Search Centres around the world.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Glasserton	1042846	1042554	103921	104112	224060	220459

Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Further information on the main GENUKI Wigtownshire page.

Church History

The only church is the parish church.

A list of all persons over 12 years of age, collected under instructions to the Episcolalian Curates of Galloway and Dumfriesshire, was published as Parish lists of Wigtownshire and Minnigaff, 1684. It is available at the Open Library.

The Old Statistical Account (written in the 1790s) gives no information about Dissenters.

The New Statistical Account (written in 1836) gives this information about them:

• "... I shall refrain from saying how few they are, though truth will not permit me to say that they are many ... the Dissenting families are old residenters in the parish."

The1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists only the parish church.

Details of church history here.

Church Records

The Parish Church (Established Church, Church of Scotland):

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: 885

The Old Parish Registers (OPRs) span the following dates (although there are gaps within these ranges):

Glasserton OPR	Births / baptisms	Proclamations / marriages	Deaths / burials / mortcloths
885/1	1700-1819	1700-1825	-
885/2	1819-1854	1849-1854	-

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 June 1731 - Nov. 1744, and irregular and defective Jan. 1753 - Aug. 1778 inclusive. Blank (except irregular entries) 1778 - 1813. After 1819, five pages of entries 1784 - 1819, and a copy of the Record 1813 - 1819.
M.  Blank Dec. 1727 - Oct. 1736, July 1740 - Jan. 1744, June 1744 - Jan. 1814; and (except for two entries for 1825) Dec. 1819 - Jan. 1849. The Record 1814 - 1819 seems defective, and the entries embrace merely the names of the parties.
D.  One entry, dated 1839.

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 Search 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:

1068036 Items 5 - 6

Baptisms, 1700-1854; Marriages, 1700-1819, 1849-1854.

Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Further information on the main GENUKI Wigtownshire page.

Kirk Session records are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of church records here.

Heritors' Records (HR319) are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of records here.

The Glasserton page of the LDS Family Search Research Wiki has more information about church history and records.

Other Churches:

None

Civil Registration

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

Registration districts covering this parish:

Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes.

Description & Travel

Surrounding parishes: Kirkinner, Sorbie, Whithorn, Mochrum.

Directories

The parish entry in Pigot's National Commercial Directory for the whole of Scotland, 1837, is online at Google Books.

Gazetteers

There is a list of places in Glasserton parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.

The GENUKI gazetteer will give a calculation of the distance from Glasserton to another place.

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.

• David Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1819, online at Google Books.
• Fullarton's Topographical, Statistical and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland, published 1842, vol. 1, A-H only, online at Google Books.
• Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1846, online at British History.
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) is on A Vision of Britain (click on "Historical descriptions").
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland(1892-6) on Electric Scotland

Genealogy

The Glasserton parish page on the Wigtownshire Pages contains a lot of excellent genealogical material and some beautiful photographs.

Historical Geography

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

Land & Property

Details of historic buildings and archaeological sites in this parish held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, are catalogued at ScotlandsPlaces. In the results, click RCAHMS. Unfortunately, not all entries have digital images.

Listed buildings in Glasserton.

Valuation Rolls, from 1855, and Valuation Office field books and plans are held in Edinburgh. A few valuation rolls are held locally. Details here.

Manor and Estate Records

Some estate papers can be found at the National Archives of Scotland. Details of Glasserton records here.

Maps

This British Library webpage uses small examples of historical maps of London to show the differences between maps at various scales.

This Charles Close Society Sheetfinder will provide the sheet numbers for historic Ordnance Survey 1-inch and 6-inch maps for any location.

• On-line maps:
  • For 17th, 18th and early 19th century maps, see the National Library of Scotland map collection.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch, 1st edition (1850) Wigtownshire sheets 29, 30, 33 & 34 at the National Library of Scotland (for the best images), or at old-maps.co.uk or British History online.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch editions of 1850, and 1909 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • Ordnance Survey 25-inch editions of 1895 and 1908 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • There is a list of places in Glasserton parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.
  • A Vision of Britain has the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1850s) and the Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1920s) - both showing parish boundaries; Land Utilisation mapping (1930s); and more.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1845-1849) sheets 2 & 4; 2nd edition (1895-1897) sheets 2 & 4; and 3rd edition (1903-1905) sheets 2 & 4 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1922-24) sheet 91 at the National Library of Scotland.
    
    Map from Quarter-inch to the mile, Scotland, 1921-1923, or One-inch to the mile, Popular edition, Scotland, 1920-1930; by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland.
• Paper maps:
  • The National Library of Scotland sells paper and digital copies of their maps (select "Enquiries & copies").
  • The Caledonian Maps Victorian Ordnance Survey Map Series sheet 4 (and a little on sheet 6) - (reprint of the 1895-97 1-inch maps) [The Caledonian Maps edition has printed the original sheet 2 as part of Caledonian Maps sheet 6].
  • Old-maps.co.uk sell paper copies of all their on-line maps.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 80, Kirkcudbright.
  • The best collection of large scale local and estate maps and plans is held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. The RCAHMS also has some plans. They are catalogued on the ScotlandsPlaces website. N.B. Only a few maps and plans are available as digital images.

• On-line maps:
  • Streetmap
  • Ordnance Survey maps
  • both Google maps and Bing maps provide detailed maps and aerial photographs
  • Google based mapping showing just the parish names for this and the surrounding parishes.
  • Google based mapping showing places in this parish only recorded in the GENUKI gazetteer.
  • There is a list of places in Glasserton parish, with links to online historical and modern maps.
• Paper maps:
  • Ordnance Survey Landranger (scale 1:50000 -  about 1 inch to 1 mile) sheet 83 - Newton Stewart and Kirkcudbright
  • Ordnance Survey Explorer (larger scale 1:25000 -  about 2 and a half inches to 1 mile) sheet 311 - Wigtown, Whithorn and the Machars

Military History

The Roll of Honour website records the names on the Glasserton war memorial. There is another listing on the Wigtownshire pages. More information can be found at the Scottish War Memorials Project.

Names, Geographical

The Ordnance Survey Object Name Books are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of Glasserton records here.

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 National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. Details of Glasserton records here.

Population

There is a page with census statistics from 1755 to 1951 here.

See also A Vision of Britain and Histpop for population statistics.

Probate Records

Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Glasserton may be found in either the Wigtown Commissariot (CC22) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824, commissary business has been conducted by the Sheriff Court of Wigtown (SC19).

Sources worth searching for deeds include Wigtown Sheriff Court.

Schools

School Board records and / or school logbooks are held at the Ewart Library, Dumfries. Details of Glasserton records here.

The Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland lists the following public schools in the parish (1893):

Statistics

"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 1830s. For more information see the main GENUKI Wigtownshire page.

• The 'Old' Statistical Account is at Google Books.
• The 'New' Statistical Account is also online at Google Books.

Taxation

The parish listing of the farm horse tax, 1797-98, can be seen at ScotlandsPlaces.

For details of other early taxation records see the Early Taxation Records page.

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Last updated 3 February, 2012 : William McM. Owen