Scotland Gazetteers

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Gazetteers

Why Use Gazetteers

A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. Gazetteers list or describe towns and villages, parishes, states, populations, rivers and mountains, and other geographical features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was published. Within a specific geographical area, the place-names are listed in alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. You can use a gazetteer to locate the places where your family lived and to determine the civil and religious jurisdictions over those places.

There are many places within a country with similar or identical place-names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify the specific town where your ancestor lived, the state the town was or is in, and the jurisdictions where records about the person was kept.

Online Gazetteers

• 1900 UK, Imperial Gazetteer Maps, 1900 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• The National Library of Scotland's Boundary Maps show parish and county boundaries of the 1840s-1880s, and 1950s. The underlying maps can be changed from historic to modern.
• FamilySearch Places
• ScotlandsPlaces a collaboration between Historic Environment Scotland, National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland.
• The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-1845
• Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland Francis H Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland : Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, 1883-1886
• The Gazetteer of Scotland John Wilson, The Gazetteer of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland : W. & A.K. Johnston, 1882
• A Vision of Britain Through Time
• Electric Scotland
• Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, by Samuel Lewis, originally published in 1846. (British History Online)
• Gazetteers of Scotland, 1803-1901 20 volumes of descriptive gazetteers of Scotland, providing a comprehensive geographical encyclopedia of Scotland in the 19th century. Principal places in Scotland, including towns, counties, castles, glens, antiquities and parishes, are listed alphabetically.
• Scotland Maps, Atlases and Gazetteers, bibliography
• Undiscovered Scotland
• Gazetteer for Scotland Gazetteer for Scotland, a vast geographical encyclopedia, featuring details of towns, villages, bens and glens from the Scottish Borders to the Northern Isles
• Onomasticon goedelicum locorum et tribuum Hiberniae et Scotiae Edmund Hogan, Onomasticon goedelicum locorum et tribuum Hiberniae et Scotiae : an index, with identifications, to the Gaelic names of places and tribes, Dublin, Ireland : Hodges & Figgis, 1910
• A Genealogical Gazetteer of Scotland Frank Smith, A Genealogical Gazetteer of Scotland : an alphabetical dictionary of places, Logan, Utah : Everton publishers, 1971, Providence, Utah : Keith W Watkins & Sons, 1979
• Scotland Painted by Sutton Palmer Described by A R Hope Moncrieff A F Hope Moncrieff, Scotland, London : A & C Black, 1922
• Peeps at Many Lands - Scotland Elizabeth Grierson, Peeps at Many Lands - Scotland, London, Adam and Charles Black, 1907
• The Topical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland The Topical, Statistical, and Historical Gazetteer of Scotland v 1&2, Glasgow[etc.] A. Fullarton & Co., 1843

Parish Information

• Descriptions of parishes can be found at:
  • Genuki.org.uk
  • VisionofBritain.org.uk
  • Scotland Ordnance Gazetteer
• Lists of neighboring parishes can be found at:
  • Genuki.org.uk
• Parish outline maps are also available online at:
  • maps.nls.uk/geo/boundaries
• Atlas and index to parish registers can be found at:
  • Great Britain, Atlas and Index of Parish Registers ($)

• Printed Resources:
  • Books detailing the overall dates of old parochial records in civil parishes or counties in northeast Scotland (by the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland Family History Society) (FS Library Map Case 941 E7c pt. 4)
  • Parish Maps of Scotland. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1991. (FS Library Book 941 E7ch)
  • Phillips’ Handy Atlas of the Counties of Scotland 1881. London, England: G. Phillip, 1881. (FS Library Book 941 E7p)

Gazetteer Contents

Gazetteers may also provide additional information about towns, such as:

• Different religious denominations
• Schools, colleges, and universities
• Major manufacturers, canals, docks, and railroad stations
• The population size.
• Boundaries of civil jurisdiction.
• Ecclesiastical jurisdiction(s)
• Longitude and latitude.
• Distances and direction from other from cities.
• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Denominations and number of churches.
• Historical and biographical information on some individuals (usually high-ranking or famous individuals)

Print Only Gazetteers

• Bartholomew Gazetteer of Places in Britain Oliver Mason, Bartholomew Gazetteer of Places in Britain, Edinburgh, Scotland : John Bartholomew & Son, c1986.
• Illustrated Road Book of Scotland Illustrated Road Book of Scotland, London, England : Automobile Association (Great Britain), 1971
• Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides Sir Donald Monro, Description of the Western Isles of Scotland called Hybrides : with the genealogies of the chief clans of the Isles, Glasgow, Scotland : Thomas D Morison, 1884
• The Place-names of Aberdeenshire William M Alexander, The Place-names of Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen, Scotland : Third Spalding Club, 1952
• Places and Place-names round Alyth James Meikle, Places and Place-names round Alyth, Paisley, Scotland : A Gardner, 1925
• The Place-names of West Lothian Angus Macdonald, The Place-names of West Lothian, Edinburgh, Scotland : Oliver & Boyd, 1941

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