Jedburgh

See under Social Life and Customs for details of George Tancred's book The annals of a border club, the Jedforest, of Jedburgh, Scotland: and biographical notices of the families connected therewith.

Census returns for Jedburgh in 1831 have apparently survived among kirk session records held in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh (NRS reference CH2/552/44). Please bear in mind that the amount and depth of information in these early returns may differ from that in later ones (source of info: Gordon Johnson's Census Records for Scottish families at Home and Abroad - see the Census section on the main Scotland GENUKI page for further details of this publication).

Graham and Emma Maxwell have transcribed and indexed the 1831, 1841, 1851 and 1861 census returns for this parish.

The following quotation comes from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published in 1868. This reference was found in volume II, page 155:

"The present parish of Jedburgh comprehends the ancient parishes of Jedworth, Old Jedworth, and Upper Crailing. Old Jedworth is the southern section of the present parish; and Upper Crailing is what we have described as the eastern wing of the northern section. The two Jedworths are the earliest Scottish parishes distinctly noticed in history. So early as the record of the year 882 ... In 1754, the Relief denomination of dissenters mainly originated in Jedburgh under Mr. Boston; and a curious manuscript was prepared by the kirk-session of the epoch, narrating the rise of the new sect."

In his entry for the Statistical Account of Scotland (compiled 1790s, see the Statistics section of the Roxburghshire page for more details) the Rev. Thomas Somerville wrote the following:

"There are four clergymen in the town of Jedburgh; the minister of the Established Church, of the Relief congregation, of the Burgher, and the Antiburgher, seceders. Their respective examination rolls are as follows: Established Church 800; Relief congregation 1200; Burgher congregation 600; Antiburgher 150 ... Near a half of all the families in the parish of Jedburgh, and a great proportion of the families in all the surrounding parishes, are members of this [Relief] congregation."

Rutherfurd's Southern Counties Register and Directory of 1866 lists the following non-conformist churches:

• Free Church
• United Presbyterian Church (Blackfriars)
• United Presbyterian Church (High Street)
• Episcopal Church
• Congregational Church
• Roman Catholic Chapel

Pigot and Co's Commercial Directory of Scotland published in 1837 lists the following non-conformist churches in Jedburgh:

• United Secession, at High Street
• United Secession, at Castle Street
• Relief Synod, at High Street

There may have been other non-conformist churches at different times.

Rev. William Ewing's Annals of the Free Church of Scotland (published 1914 in Edinburgh) notes that Dr John Purves, minister of Jedburgh, "and a large congregation" left the Church of Scotland for the Free Church in 1843 and that they "worshipped in the assembly room of the Spread Eagle Hotel" until their church was built. Rev. Ewing gives the membership of the congregation in 1848 as 526; in 1900 as 384.

The parish church (Church of Scotland) has registers dating from 1639. Old Parish Registers (before 1855) are held in the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh, and copies on microfilm may be consulted in local libraries and in LDS Family History Centres around the world. Later parish registers (after 1855) are often held in the National Records of Scotland as are any records of non-conformist churches in the area (often unfilmed and unindexed, and only available there).

Registers for a number of non-conformist Jedburgh churches are listed in microfilm format in the LDS Family History Library catalogue, and should therefore hopefully be available in LDS family history centres around the world:

• Associate Congregation later called Blackfriars United Presbyterian (baptisms for 1737-1839 and 1825-1858)
• Free Church (baptisms for 1842-1854)
• Relief Church later called High Street United Presbyterian (baptisms for 1840-1860)

The National Records of Scotland holds baptisms from Jedburgh Free Church for some years as part of its collection of Miscellaneous Records (MR 88) [Note: the GRO(S)'s catalogue gives the dates covered as 1812-1854, but when I looked at this item in the GRO(S) I couldn't see any baptisms earlier than the 1840s].

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. For further details of this see the National Records of Scotland website.

Graham and Emma Maxwell have indexed the prison registers of Jedburgh Prison for 1843-1848 and 1848-1869.

• Geograph
• Flickr

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Jedburgh to another place.

See for example:

• Jedburgh worthies: Willie Wilson, the poet, Daft Andrew, Jock the Kecken, Robbie Dun published in 1860
• George Watson's article on "Jeddart justice: an enquiry into its origin" printed in the 1904 Hawick Archaeological Society transactions
• Yesterdays in a royal burgh by James Lindsay Hilson, published at Jedburgh in 1906
• Further yesterdays in a royal burgh by James Lindsay Hilson
• More yesterdays in a royal burgh by James Lindsay Hilson
• A collection of articles by George Watson published at Jedburgh in 1908. According to library catalogues the articles cover the following: The tongue of the Canongate, Jedburgh - Andrew Young - The foundation of Jedburgh Abbey - Edwardsley - The Ainslies of Blackhill - The "Swasher" of Jedburgh - The town piper of Jedburgh

A reprint of John Wood's plan of Jedburgh compiled in the early 19th century is available from Caledonian Maps. This was one of a number of plans of Scottish towns compiled during the period 1818-1825, most naming streets and property owners.

A later town plan of Jedburgh, surveyed in 1898, is published by Alan Godfrey Maps. The maps in this series are highly detailed having been taken from the original 1:2500 plans and reprinted at a scale of about 14inches:1mile.

Ordnance Survey maps covering Jedburgh include:

• Landranger 74: Kelso & surrounding area - scale 1:50000, or 1.25inch:1mile, or 2cm:1km
• Outdoor Leisure Map number 16: "The Cheviot Hills - scale 1:25000, or 2.5inch:1mile, or 4cm:1km

The town is also covered by an old Victorian one-inch to the mile Ordnance Survey map published by Caledonian Maps. The relevant sheet is sheet number 17 "Hawick & Jedburgh" which also includes Ancrum, Ashkirk, Bedrule, Bonchester, Cheviot Hills, Hobkirk, Lilliesleaf, Minto, Teviotdale and Watling Street.

The National Records of Scotland holds the following as part of its collection of maps and plans:

• 1770: Plan of subjects belonging to John Douglas and Thomas Turnbull, particularly of the Middingstead (on the east of Jedburgh Highgate Street). Scale 1:80. Size 53x42cm. Grid (map) reference NT6520. NRS reference RHP.682
• 1814: Sketch of estate of Hunthill. Scale 1:7100. Size 62x43cm. Grid (map) reference NT6619. NRS reference RHP.1477

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NT672158 (Lat/Lon: 55.435115, -2.520085), Jedburgh which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

A roll book for the Jedburgh company of the Border Rifles, covering the dates 1870-1874, is now held at the Kings Own Scottish Borderers Regimental Museum, The Barracks, Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 1DG. (source: National Register of Archives).

The Borders Family History Society has published Poor Law Records CDs for Jedburgh Parish for 1852-1874 and 1875-1893.

Here are some figures showing the parish's population through time:

• 1755 - 5816
• 1799 - 3288
• 1801 - 3834
• 1811 - 4454
• 1821 - 5251
• 1831 - 5647
• 1861 - 5263

Published school histories include:

• The history of Jedburgh Grammar School by George Watson, published at Jedburgh in 1909
• The Nest Academy by Garrett O'Brien, published at Jedburgh in 1990 (detailing the history of a 19th century boarding school for boys)

Some records of the Jedburgh Burgh and Parochial Schoolmasters' Widows Fund are held at the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh. These consist of minutes for the years 1824-1872 and have NRS reference GD342. (source: National Register of Archives).

For a description of Jedburgh's annual Callants Festival see Chapter 19 of The Borders Book.

The annals of a border club, the Jedforest, of Jedburgh, Scotland: and biographical notices of the families connected therewith by George Tancred was published at Jedburgh in 1899 (505 pages). The LDS Family History Library catalogue lists a microfilm version of this book, so hopefully it should be available to view in LDS family history centres around the world.

Refreshing the spirit: the inns and pubs of Jedburgh by Garrett O'Brien was published at Jedburgh in 1991.

Hound and horn in Jedforest by T. Scott Anderson was published in 1909.