Location of church within the parish of Dalkeith

[Les de B]

I'm trying to find the exact location of a church for my wife's ancestors, James BENSON and Isabella ARMSTRONG.

Their Marriage Certificate indicates they were married in 1858 by Robert WRIGHT at Church of Scotland, in the Parish of Dalkeith. Wondering if it has a more common name such as Saint "this" or Saint "that", if you know what I mean?

I would like to know its exact location as my wife and I will be visiting the area in a couple of months doing some family research.

Thanks

Les

[Istrice]

Les,

The attached refers to the Parish, the Church, and to the Rev Wright.  My apologies for the length of the links.  (Pages 314 and 317 refer).  The second reference (I hope) is the church location in Dalkeith.
Enjoy your holiday in Scotland!

Istrice

 (http://www.veritasseminary.com/wenix/Library/PRINCETON%20SEMINARY%20COLLECTION%20--%20OCR/PRINCETON%20--%20SACRAMENTS%20--%20OCR/PRINCETON%20--%20BAPTISM%20--%20OCR/fastiecclesiaesc01scot.pdf).

(https://www.google.com/maps/place/St+Nicholas+Buccleuch+Parish+Church/@55.8955502,-3.0711129,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x4887beb27e13b343:0xbc0758c36d51d3a1!8m2!3d55.8955502!4d-3.0689242)

[Forfarian]

Are you absolutely 100% certain that the marriage ceremony took place in the kirk building itself? Does the marriage certificate explicitly say so?

I ask because in the 1850s it was very much the exception for a marriage to take place in the kirk building. The traditional place for a wedding ceremony was in the bride's home or, if she had no living parents or was marrying a long way from home, in the manse or in her employer's home. See https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/economicsocialhistory/historymedicine/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/marriage/

So unless the place of marriage in the certificate actually says, 'in the parish church' you cannot assume that they were married in the kirk itself.

Robert Wright (1800-1897) was Minister of Dalkeith from 1851 to 1876.

His predecessor, writing in the New Statistical Account in 1845, says, "An elegant church of the English Gothic style was built in 1840, by His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, on a commanding site at the head of the town .... the unsettled state of the Churchfor some years, and recently the secession that has taken place .... has rendered an additional place of worship in this parish, connected with the Establishment, unnecessary ...." ('The Establishment' means the Church of Scotland.) From this it is clear that there was only one Church of Scotland in Dalkeith in 1845. See http://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/viewer/nsa-vol1-Parish_record_for_Dalkeith_in_the_county_of_Edinburgh_in_volume_1_of_account_2/ (Page 502)

This kirk replaced a building of the 15th century. See https://canmore.org.uk/site/53417/dalkeith-east-kirk-church-of-st-nicholas and https://canmore.org.uk/site/211694/dalkeith-old-edinburgh-road-buccleuch-church

In 1853, a quoad sacra Dalkeith West Parish was split off from Dalkeith, and a new kirk was built, also by the Duke of Buccleuch. The second minister there was John Anderson, who served from 1857 to 1863.

So if your James Benson and Isabella Armstrong were married by Robert Wright, not by John Anderson, they were married by the minister of the St Nicholas Buccleuch kirk. They probably attended services there, but more than likely were not actually married within its walls.

[Les de B]

Thanks Istrice for your reply, though I couldn't open the first link. But at least you gave me an actual church name to work off.

Thanks also to Forfarian for your reply - some things in it I wasn't aware of. No, I can't be certain if they were actually married in the church itself, I just presumed they would have been? I thought the document I had was an actual marriage certificate, but it appears to be a Marriage Register entry. If it helps any, I've attached the entry of BENSON and ARMSTRONG. It does indicate "If a regular Marriage signature of Officiating Minister", and that is signed by Robert Wright, but whether that infers they were married in the actual church, I don't know?

[Forfarian]

That is the marriage certificate. Officially it is an Extract of Marriage but it's the same thing.

I see it just says they were married in Dalkeith, which is unhelpful as well as unusual. Normally the exact place of the marriage is recorded.

The signature of the officiating minister does not imply that the marriage ceremony was conducted in the kirk building.

One curious feature of this record is that neither of the couple was resident in the parish of Dalkeith. Penicuik is a parish in its own right. Auchendinny is in the parish of Glencorse and is far closer to Penicuik than it is to Dalkeith. So why did they walk all the way to Dalkeith (it's not that far, maybe five miles, but still a couple of hours' journey) rather than get married by the minister of Glencorse or the minister of Penicuik, both of whom were closer to hand?

I see from the 1851 census (https://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl) that James Benson was living with his parents in Auchindinny, and Isabella Armstrong was living with her widowed mother in the parish of Liberton, where she was born. No obvious connection to Dalkeith in either case.

[Les de B]

Thanks again Forfarian for your help. Well, it looks as though its not certain where they were married, but in any case I will be visiting Dalkeith and surrounds, as the majority of my wife's family come from that area, and I have their Census details to go by.

Les

[Istrice]

Les,

Apologies for the duff link in my previous post.  If you Google "Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae V.1" it should lead to Volume 1 of this interesting publication.

I note that things have moved on, and although the information may not advance your quest, it tells a little about the church, and confirms that the minister in post at the time of the marriage was in fact Robert Wright.

Istrice

[Forfarian]

'Fasti' Vol 1 was also my source for the information about Robert Wright and John Anderson. I couldn't get your link to work either, but I have a digital copy of all the volumes of 'Fasti'.

[Les de B]

Once again, thanks to BOTH of you for your help. Wasn't the result I was seeking, but hey, that's Family research for you - win some, lose some 

Will still be visiting Dalkeith, and checking out the church anyway.

Les