The fishing port of Eyemouth is the smallest parish in Berwickshire. The North Sea lies to the north and east, with the Parish of Ayton on the south and the Parish of Coldingham to the west.
In 1881 a ferocious storm hit the coast of Berwickshire which sank most of the Eyemouth fishing fleet and resulted in overv 180 deaths. No family in Eyemouth was untouched by Black Friday.
Old Parish Records cover the periods:
Births: 1710 to 1854.
Marriages: 1732 to 1854.
The former Eyemouth Parish Church taken from the harbour.
Eyemouth United Secession Church - Baptisms 1841 to 1861, Maxwell Ancestry.
Eyemouth United Secession Church - Marriages 1843 to 1850, Maxwell Ancestry.
Only pre 1855 memorial records have been transcribed (see below).
See our sales list for full details and cost of postage.
Volumes available for consultation within our Archive
Pre 1855 Memorial Inscriptions of Berwickshire by David Cargill.
Children of the Sea by Peter Aitchison 2001.
Index to Particular Register of Sasines for Berwickshire.
The Churches and Churchyards of Berwickshire by G.A.C. Binnie.1995.
Transcript of the Minute Book of the Burgh of Barony of Dunse 1753 to 1800 by Ronald Morrison.
Rutherford's Southern Counties Register and Directory 1867.
County Directory of Scotland 1912 - Borders Towns and Villages.
The Netherbyres Branch of the Craw family, J.P. Craw. (Berwickshire Naturalists' Club Vol. 47)
Contraband - Smugglers' haunts on the Berwickshire Coast, Will Hood(The Southern Annual 1951).
CD-ROM The Churches and Churchyards of Berwickshire by James Robson 1896.
CD-ROM Slater's Directory of Berwickshire 1903.
CD-ROM Land Ownership Commission Report 1872 -1873.
Magazine Articles
Please note that the heading Author includes persons who have compiled or transcribed records; and that the topics indexed, and the synopses are subjective opinions. See the Sales List to buy copies of the magazines containing articles in which you're interested.
Title
Synopsis
Size Description
Issue No
Author
New Research Facility at Eyemouth Museum
Details of new research facilities available at Eyemouth Museum and a project to determine the names of old wynds and vennels recorded in the 1841 census.
1 page or more
80
Eyemouth Local/Family History Centre
Some notes on the Eyemouth Family History Centre and Eyemouth Fort 'Virtual Experience Pod'.
2 pages or more
84
John Whillis Exhibition, Eyemouth
Some notes on the John Whillis Exhibition, Eyemouth and the associated exhibition on sailing ships connected including the 'Cutty Sark'.
1 page or more
91
Women of Gunsgreen
An account of an exhibition entitled 'Women of Gunsgreen' with information on women who resided at or had connections with Gunsgreen House in Eyemouth.
1 page or more
85
Ronald Morrison
Memories of Ayton
Mrs Patricia Payne was so interested in the articles on 'The Ayton Bard' that she felt the need to record some of her memories of Ayton before all was forgotten.
less than 1 page
18
Patricia Payne
A Berwickshire Schoolmaster
Jean Smithers has contributed this "nugget" from her investigations into the history of one of the strands of her ancestry.
1 page or more
11
Jean Smithers
The Ayton Bard
This is in issues 16 and 17.
Robert Mennon was a well known Borders bard and contributed to many Scottish weeklies.
5 pages or more
16
A. Michael Mennim
Gunsgreen House, Eyemouth
Notes on the book "Eustace the Outcast" by David Pae also on the will of James Swanston of Eyemouth containing what is thought to be a list of customers for illicit produce including the Rev. Robert Bowmaker, minister, Duns.
1 page or more
78
Ronald Morrison
Map of Eyemouth from Quarter-inch to the mile, Scotland, 1921-1923 or One-inch to the mile, Popular edition, Scotland, 1920-1930 by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland. Use the control at the top left of the map to zoom in or out and drag the map left, right, up, or down as you wish.
Other Sources
An Old-time Fishing Town - Eyemouth its history romance and tragedy with an account of the East Coast Fishing Disaster, Rev. Daniel McIver; Greenock 1906.
Fishing Boats and Fisher Folk on the East Coast of Scotland, Peter F Anson; London 1930.
Byways of the Scottish Border, George Eyre-Todd; Selkirk 1890.
Where The Merse meets the Sea, Alan Spence; Scots Magazine 1971.
Ebb Tide, Will Wilson; Berwick 1980.
Eyemouth Remembers, J. M. Russell; Scots Magazine October 1981.
The Eyemouth Forts - 'Anvils of Union', Marcus Merriman; Scottish Historical Review LXXV11, 1988.
Eyemouth in Old Picture Post cards Vol 2 by Lawson Wood - 1995.
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1791-99 vol.3 p.112: Eyemouth, County of Berwick (click "browse scanned pages" and insert Parish name)
The Statistical Accounts of Scotland 1834-45 vol.2 p.318: Eyemouth, County of Berwick (click "browse scanned pages" and insert Parish name)
Eyemouth Parish Inspector of Poor Record Book containing the inspector's half-yearly statement of the receipts and expenditure of the Parish of Eyemouth.
The register of Special or occasional visits to paupers belonging to the Parish of Eyemouth, by the inspector.
Record of statutory visits to paupers belonging to the parish residing therein or within five miles thereof.
Register of Applications for relief to paupers resident in this, but belonging to other Parishes.
List of Persons who have applied for and refused relief with the grounds of refusal.
List of Paupers for whom relief has been claimed by other Parishes.
Register for whom relief has been claimed by other Parishes.
Register of Out-door relief to Occasional Poor in the Parish of Eyemouth.
Register of Out-door relief to the permanent poor in the Parish of Eyemouth.
List of Insane or Fatuous persons who are in receipt of relief from the Parish of Eyemouth in the Presbytery of Chirnside.
Eyemouth Parish Visiting Book Registered Poor 1878-1896.
These records are being indexed and transcribed by the Society.
School Records
Eyemouth School Board Minute Books 1873 to 1919 (Ref - B/ED/1/45-49).
The Scottish National Archives, Edinburgh
Eyemouth Parish Church (Ref - CH2/1239)
Minutes for 1826 and 1834 to 1881 .
Kirk Session Records for 1709-1718 and 1729 -1793.
Minutes of Poor's Fund and Accounts 1731-1777.
Eyemouth United Secession Church (Ref - CH3/1235)
Minutes containing list of members 1842 to 1917.
Baptisms 1841 to 1861 and 1880 to 1917.
Marriages 1843 to 1850.
St. John's Free Church
Minutes 1844 to 1954 (Ref - CH3/1236).
Berwickshire Naturalists' Club
Vols. 1 and 5 Eyemouth visited 1838 and 1858.
Vol. 13 Eyemouth Church.
Vol. 25. An Old-time Fishing Town by Rev. D McIver.
Vol. 39 Witches Trial.
Vol. 40 Eyemouth Parish School.
Vol. 43 Captain Sir Samuel Brown of Netherbyres (1776-1851) by Simon Furness.
Vols. 43 and 44 William Crow of Netherbyres (c1704-1750) by Stella Mills.
Vol. 47 The Netherbyres Branch of the Craw family by J.P. Craw. (available in Society Archive)
The Southern Annual
1951 Contraband - Smugglers' haunts on the Berwickshire Coast by Will Hood(available in Society Archives).
Websites
Town Website. Casualties of the Eyemouth Disaster
(There are several other websites dealing with the loss of the fishing fleet in 1851)
The RCHAMS website Scotland's Places contains details of;
