Sunday 18 July 2010

New book - Westerkirk Burials and Irregular Marriages

Just a note to let you know about our newest book: Westerkirk Burials 1706-1719, 1768-1854 and Irregular Marriages 1768-1824 on sale now for £8.99 in our bookshop.

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More information about this book

This book contains transcriptions of registers of deaths or burials for Westerkirk parish, Dumfriesshire, presented along with a transcription of irregular marriages for which fines were paid and recorded in the parish accounts.

The main register, Volume 7, is from 1805-1854, however an apparent duplicate register, running from 1842-1854 is found in Volume 16 of the Kirk Session records for Glencairn parish, Dumfriesshire. This record is slightly different in some entries, and includes some individuals not in the other record, so it has also been included here in full. From comparing the entries it would also appear that the second register records the date of death rather than the date of burial.

Prior to 1805, we rely on the mortcloth entries found in the accounts of Westerkirk Kirk Session. The mortcloth entries appear in Volume 4, from 1706-1719; and Volume 5, from 1768 onwards. There are a few mortcloth entries recorded in the accounts after the separate burial register was commenced in 1805 – if the entry does not appear in the burial records, we have transcribed it. If there are entries in both registers, and the mortcloth entry adds something, a footnote is added in the transcription of the burial register accordingly. It is important to note that it is not always obvious who the person named in the mortcloth is, as it may be the name of the deceased or the name of the relative or person who paid the funeral expenses. Additionally, some entries we have included are for money expended by the parish to bury or cover the funeral expenses of poor parishioners.

These entries are separate from and supplement the Church of Scotland Old Parish Registers kept by the General Register Office (Scotland) at New Register House in Edinburgh, and it is believed they have not been transcribed or indexed before. The entries in this transcription are not to be found in any Old Parish Registers as far as we can tell.

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