Scotland Historical Geography: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:09, 24 January 2008

Learning about the places where your ancestors lived helps you understand the records about them. Local histories and gazetteers contain information about:

Place names
Spellings
Other pertinent information
Changes in the land and community in which people lived.

Unlike place names in other European countries, many place names in Scotland have not changed for hundreds of years.

Geographically, Scotland is divided into several regions, which include:

The borderlands with England
The lowlands
The highlands
The islands (to the west and north of Scotland).

The following books explain more about Scottish historical geography. You can find these and similar materials at the Family History Library and many other research libraries.

McNeill, Peter, and Ranald Nicholson, eds.'''An Historical Atlas of Scotland, c. 400-c. 1600. St. Andrews, Scotland: Atlas Committee of the Conference of Scottish Medievalists, 1975. (FHL book 941 E3ha.) This book contains many maps to illustrate population movements, settlement patterns, battles, and other important events in Scotland.

Whittington, G., and I.D. Whittington, eds. An Historical Geography of Scotland. London, England: New York: Academic Press, 1983. (FHL book 941 E3sg.) This is a good overall review of Scotland’s historical geography.

Gilbert, Martin. British History Atlas. New York: Macmillan Co., 1968. (FHL book 942 E3bri.) This national historical atlas contains maps to illustrate population movements, railways, battles, plagues, and more.

You can find other sources in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

SCOTLAND - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

GREAT BRITAIN - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

[edit | edit source]

County Changes Made in 1974[edit | edit source]

In 1974 the British government reorganized the counties of Scotland. Twelve areas, called regions, were created from the original thirty-four counties. See the "Maps" section of this outline for the county changes.

These changes should not seriously affect genealogical research, but be aware of the following issues:

Current maps show the new boundaries.
Current addresses are located in the new counties. The addresses in this outline use the current county structure.

If you are looking for a parish, city, or regional office that houses records, you will need to know the current address and the areas covered by the repository.

You should begin with the pre-1974 county name when you start your genealogical research. Below is a list of the new counties with an indication of the old counties they cover.

New Region (County)	Old Counties	Borders	Berwick,Peebles,Roxburgh,Selkirk, and a small part of Midlothian
Central	Clackmannan, parts of Perth and WestLothian, and most of Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown
Fife	Fife
Grampian	Aberdeen, Kincardine, Banff, and most of Moray
Highland	Caithness, Nairn, and Sutherland and most of Argyll, Inverness, Moray, and Ross and Cromarty
Lothian	East Lothian and most of Midlothian and West Lothian
Strathclyde	Bute, Dunbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and parts of Argyll and Stirling
Tayside	Angus, Kinross, and part of Perth

Island Areas	Old County	Orkney	Orkney
Shetland	of Zetland (or Shetland)
Western Isles	Island areas of Iverness and Ross and Cromarty

Click here for more information about Scotlands counties, including links to records.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{CountrySidebar
+Learning about the places where your ancestors lived helps you understand the records about them. Local histories and gazetteers contain information about:
-|Country=Scotland
-|Name=Scotland
-|Type=Topic
-|Topic Type=Background
-|Background=Historical Geography
-|Rating=Acceptable
-}}{{breadcrumb
-| link1=[[Scotland Genealogy|Scotland]]
-| link2=
-| link3=
-| link4=
-| link5=[[Scotland Historical Geography|Historical Geography]]
-}}
-=== Introduction  ===
+* Place names
+* Spellings
+* Other pertinent information
+* Changes in the land and community in which people lived.
-Learning about the places where your ancestors lived helps you understand the records about them. Local histories and gazetteers contain information about:
+Unlike place names in other European countries, many place names in Scotland have not changed for hundreds of years.
-*Place names
+Geographically, Scotland is divided into several regions, which include:
-*Spellings
-*Other pertinent information
-*Changes in the land and community in which people lived.
-Unlike place names in other European countries, many place names in Scotland have not changed for hundreds of years.
+* The borderlands with England
+* The lowlands
+* The highlands
+* The islands (to the west and north of Scotland).
-Geographically, Scotland is divided into several regions, which include:
+The following books explain more about Scottish historical geography. You can find these and similar materials at the Family History Library and many other research libraries.
-*The borderlands with England
+McNeill, Peter, and Ranald Nicholson, eds.''''''''An'' ''Historical Atlas of Scotland, c.'' ''400-c. 1600''. St. Andrews, Scotland: Atlas Committee of the Conference of Scottish Medievalists, 1975. (FHL book 941 E3ha.) This book contains many maps to illustrate population movements, settlement patterns, battles, and other important events in Scotland.
-*The lowlands
-*The highlands
-*The islands (to the west and north of Scotland).
-These regions were historically divided into thirty-four counties (see below). In addition, there are seven cities--Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Stirling and Perth--which received their status from the government by letters patent.
+Whittington, G., and I.D. Whittington, eds. ''An Historical Geography of Scotland''. London, England: New York: Academic Press, 1983. (FHL book 941 E3sg.) This is a good overall review of Scotland’s historical geography.
-== Books ==
+Gilbert, Martin. ''British History Atlas''. New York: Macmillan Co., 1968. (FHL book 942 E3bri.) This national historical atlas contains maps to illustrate population movements, railways, battles, plagues, and more.
-The following books explain more about Scottish historical geography. You can find these and similar materials at the FamilySearch Library and many other research libraries.
+You can find other sources in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:
-McNeill, Peter, and Ranald Nicholson, eds. ''''An Historical Atlas of Scotland, c. 400-c. 1600''''. St. Andrews, Scotland: Atlas Committee of the Conference of Scottish Medievalists, 1975. (FamilySearch Library {{FSC|124605|title-id|disp=book 941 E3ha}}.) This book contains many maps to illustrate population movements, settlement patterns, battles, and other important events in Scotland.
+SCOTLAND - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
-Whittington, G., and I.D. Whittington, eds. ''''An Historical Geography of Scotland''''. London, England: New York: Academic Press, 1983. (FamilySearch Library{{FSC|466607|title-id|disp=book 941 E3sg}}.) This is a good overall review of Scotland’s historical geography.
+GREAT BRITAIN - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
-Gilbert, Martin. ''''British History Atlas''''. New York: Macmillan Co., 1968. (FamilySearch Library {{FSC|273602|title-id|disp=book 942 E3bri.) }}This national historical atlas contains maps to illustrate population movements, railways, battles, plagues, and more.
+===  ===
-You can find other sources in the Locality Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:
+=== County Changes Made in 1974 ===
-SCOTLAND - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
+In 1974 the British government reorganized the counties of Scotland. Twelve areas, called regions, were created from the original thirty-four counties. See the&nbsp;"[[Scotland Maps|Maps]]" section&nbsp;of this outline for the county changes.
-GREAT BRITAIN - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY
+These changes should not seriously affect genealogical research, but be aware of the following issues:
-Maps are also very valuable for determining historical geography.  See [[Scotland Maps|Scotland Maps]] for more information.
+* Current maps show the new boundaries.
+* Current addresses are located in the new counties. The addresses in this outline use the current county structure.
-=== County Changes Made in 1974  ===
+If you are looking for a parish, city, or regional office that houses records, you will need to know the current address and the areas covered by the repository.
-In 1974 the British government reorganized the counties of Scotland. Twelve areas, called regions, were created from the original thirty-four counties. See [[Scotland Counties]] for the changes.
+You should begin with the pre-1974 county name when you start your genealogical research. Below is a list of the new counties with an indication of the old counties they cover.
-These changes should not seriously affect genealogical research, but be aware of the following issues:
+{| class="plain"
-*Current maps show the new boundaries.
-*Current addresses are located in the new counties. The addresses in this outline use the current county structure.
-If you are looking for a parish, city, or regional office that houses records, you will need to know the current address and the areas covered by the repository.
-You should begin with the pre-1974 county name when you start your genealogical research. Below is a list of the new counties with an indication of the old counties they cover.
-{| class="FCK__ShowTableBorders"
-|-
-| '''New Region (County)'''
-| '''Old Counties'''
 |-
-| Borders
+| New Region&nbsp;&nbsp;(County)
+| Old Counties
+| Borders
 | Berwick,Peebles,Roxburgh,Selkirk, and a small part of Midlothian
 |-
 | Central
 | Clackmannan, parts of Perth and WestLothian, and most of Stirling
 |-
 | Dumfries and Galloway
 | Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigtown
 |-
 | Fife
 | Fife
 |-
 | Grampian
 | Aberdeen, Kincardine, Banff, and most of Moray
 |-
 | Highland
 | Caithness, Nairn, and Sutherland and most of Argyll, Inverness, Moray, and Ross and Cromarty
 |-
 | Lothian
 | East Lothian and most of Midlothian and West Lothian
 |-
 | Strathclyde
 | Bute, Dunbarton, Lanark, Renfrew, Ayr, and parts of Argyll and Stirling
 |-
 | Tayside
 | Angus, Kinross, and part of Perth
 |}
-{| class="FCK__ShowTableBorders"
+{| class="plain"
 |-
-| '''Island Areas        '''
+| Island Areas
-| '''Old County'''
+| Old County
-|-
+| Orkney
-| Orkney
 | Orkney
 |-
 | Shetland
 | of Zetland (or Shetland)
 |-
 | Western Isles
-| Island areas of Inverness and Ross &amp; Cromarty
+| Island areas of Iverness and Ross and Cromarty
 |}
-{{Place|Scotland}}
+Click [[Scotland Old Counties pre 1974 and New Counties post 1974|here]] for more information about Scotlands counties, including links to records.
-[[Category:Scotland|Historical Geography]]
+[[Category:Scotland]]