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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Wigtownshire => Topic started by: Rakiura John on Wednesday 08 March 17 23:16 GMT (UK)
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Hello
I ask this question because I have a page from the 1829 Leswalt Marriage Register in which each marriage entry is headed with a place-name - seemingly a specific locality or farm within the Parish (e.g. Broadstone, Challoch, Larbrax, Weirston)
I assume the place-name indicates where the marriage took place, and, as every entry has a place-name, this suggests that it was the custom in those days for marriages to take place elsewhere than the parish church. Is this correct?
John
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I don't know about Leswalt, but marriages records I have show that all of my Scottish Ancestors were married - either in the groom or the brides house or the local Manse - but more usually in the home of the brides parents.
My Mum is the only one that married in a church, and that was 1939 in NZ!
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Yes unlike England where for the marriage to be legal it had to be in the parish church (until 1837 with a few exceptions for defined religions) in Scotland a couple was free to marry where they chose.
Cheers
Guy
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Hi John,
Yes these are all farms in the Leswalt area and it was common for them to be married in the farmhouse my ggg grandparents were married in Weirston in 1841.
Grandparents were married in Kilbreen which is near Stoneykirk he was a ploughman on the farm and she was a domestic servant.
It come under the "Rhins of Galloway " a rather picturesque part of Scotland which I have visited many times.
suzilad
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Until the 20th century it was extremely rare for a wedding in the Church of Scotland or any other Presbyterian Church to take place in the Church building.
The most common places were either the Ministers own home or the home of the bride although later on ceremonies were held in commercial premises.
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Thanks for the replies.
Suzilad, coincidentally the marriage I'm interested in was also at Weirston, in 1829 (George Watson of Lanarkshire & Elizabeth Nelson of Leswalt). So based on the above replies, I think the marriage was probably at Elizabeth Nelson's parents house.
Her parents had a death of a child at Barbeth in 1820, and a birth in 1821 also at Barbeth. I see from maps that there is a Low Barbeth farm and a High Barbeth farm located on the eastern edge of a locality shown on the map as Weirston. So my initial conclusion was that Barbeth was a farm in Weirston, and the marriage "in Weirston" was probably at Barbeth farm.
However I see from the entry for Weirston in OS Name Books (1845-1849) on ScotlandsPlaces, that Weirston "formerly consisted of one farm but it is now divided into 6 small holdings each of which is known by the name of Weirston". That seems to put the kybosh on my initial conclusion - if Weirston was an actual farm and later a group of farms each called Weirston, then Barbeth must be a different farm altogether. Would you by any chance have explored further into the farms called Weirston - and were any of them also known as Barbeth?
regards
John
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Hi John,
Most of these farms are still there today I haven't gone deep into the history of the farms so can't help you.
My ancestors were not the actual farmers but farm workers they were ploughman who had cottages on the farm.
Barbeth and Weirston are still farms today .
Can I suggest you have a look at www.WigtownshirePagesorg.uk on it you will find lots of information on the farms in the area and lots more which you might find of interest to you .
suzilad
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Thanks Suzilad. But that link seems to be faulty??
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Thanks Suzilad. But that link seems to be faulty??
Is this the website mentioned
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ainsty/index.html
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There are some entries in the Wigtownshire Pages for BMDs listing the property as "Barbeath" so it may be worth looking for alternative spellings. There is also a listing for "High Barbeth."
(These are in relation to the Sprott/ Sproat family)