How do I find out who owned land in Gattonside in 1826?

[suek2075]

In the nls website (link here http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400048 ) on the John Wood map for Melrose and Gattonside in 1826 I've noticed that some land just east of Gattonside House (and probably part of the Gattonside estate) is marked as 'Mr Keddie' - I'm assuming that the names are the tenants rather than owners.

Does anyone know whether it is possible to find out who the 'Mr Keddie' was? I don't know of family members being at Gattonside at that date, but from the 1850's one of our families worked on the estate for over twenty years as market gardeners. Again I assume that they rented land from the estate. Sons seem to follow fathers around the farms, so I think it's possible that the George I know about was introduced to the estate by a relative who already worked there.

The family history in the Borders in the 1820s is all a bit hazy as I've had trouble tracking them down and linking them up, so this may give me another pointer.

Thanks to anyone who is able to help

Sue

[StanleysChesterton]

The archive centre local to your area of interest will have some.  Some might even be online. 

This Rootschat thread announced the maps of Wales, if that's your area of interest ever.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=720277.0

One of the big sites (ancestry, findmypast, thegenealogist) has very recently uploaded all that sort of stuff.

They've uploaded tithe maps and you can point to individual fields and see who owned the land, who was working it (renting it).

[suek2075]

Thank you for that SC. Unfortunately I'm at the other end of England so it's not easy to get to a local archive centre.

And thank you for the links for Wales - that's another area of interest so will be useful at some point.

I didn't realise I was looking for tithe maps to get this information I'll have a look on the Borders  Hub and see if there is anything on there. Although I don't seem to be very good at finding my way around the Hub - found lots of interesting stuff on there, just not what I'm looking for 

[StanleysChesterton]

I didn't realise I was looking for tithe maps to get this information

That's the trouble with a lot of things, you don't know what the "magic word" is.

In 1837 they started a survey of England, that took 15 years to complete, that drew up the Tithe maps for every field, every estate.  In that they recorded who was working the land/renting it - and who the landowner was.

They should, theoretically, cover every square inch of the country .... and all you now have to do is track them down and get access to them soonest/cheapest (free is best) ..... such a long-winded thing isn't it.  That little question that you spot every time you solve the last question

[suek2075]

In 1837 they started a survey of England

Does that include Scotland ?? 

I've seen threads talking about tithe maps but never really understood what they could tell you and as they're not relevant to what I'm doing at the time I don't always take it in ...you're so right, you're learning all the time doing family history.

[terianne]

Try the Valuation Rolls

try the scotlandspeople website first - some are digitised

[StanleysChesterton]

In 1837 they started a survey of England

Does that include Scotland ?? 

I've seen threads talking about tithe maps but never really understood what they could tell you and as they're not relevant to what I'm doing at the time I don't always take it in ...you're so right, you're learning all the time doing family history.

No idea about Scotland

In simple terms (before somebody beats me down with greater knowledge) - every piece of land is owned by somebody and a tithe (tax) is due to be paid to the local church and the landowner. 

It was often/typically 10% and paid in turnips, or whatever else you were doing there - half a cow maybe?  Big bag of carrots.  Then it was changed to cash payments, rather than goods in kind.

If you owned the land you'd only have to pay the church their carrots/money - as the other part of the tax/tithe goes to the owner and that's you.

[terianne]

the 1865 valuation has a john keddie,& wife margaret and a william keddie a Proprietor & Occupier at Ladhope Bank, melrose parish (now part of Galashiels) - a couple of miles from Gattonside and william is a Gardener

if you go on Scotlandspeople website - research would take about 3 credits

[suek2075]

SC - thanks again for your input.

Terianne - thanks for the info about the valuation rolls. I have checked out the 1865 ones but I was really hoping for something a bit earlier, closer to the map date. I don't know if the people in the rolls are related to me or not - I guess I'll have to start a tree for them and see if they fit in with mine somewhere 

Thanks to you both for your help

Sue