The Parish of Melrose based on the historic Burgh of the same name is situated in the north east of Roxburghshire being bordered on the north by the Parish of Lauder, on the east by the parishes of Legerwood, Earlston and Mertoun all in the County of Berwickshire, on the south by the Parishes of St. Boswells, and Bowden and on the east by the Parishes of Galashiels and Caddonfoot both in the County of Selkirkshire and Stow in the County of Midlothian.
The town of Melrose grew up around Melrose Abbey, one of the four great medieval abbeys in the Borders. Melrose is also the home of Seven-a-Side Rugby which was first played here in 1883. Melrose and Bowden have now been combined into a single parish. The War Memorial is on the green in front of the parish church. There's also a war memorial at Darnick
Melrose Abbey Memorial Inscriptions (available as a book form or CD-ROM) (includes Hearth Tax and Militia List).
(The CD-ROM contains a photograph of all stones).
Weirhill and High Cross Memorial Inscriptions - C.D.
Melrose Parish War Memorials - The Men and their stories by Major Trevor S Mills R.E. (Rtd.) and Mrs. Fiona M.A. Mills
(includes Darnick, Newstead and Gattonside Memorials).
Melrose Death Records 1815 to 1829 by Nigel Hardie.
Melrose Death Records 1830 to 1844 by Nigel Hardie.
Melrose Death Records 1845 to 1855 by Nigel Hardie.
Days of our Youth - Memories of Melrose by John Pomphrey Dick.
(see our sales list for full details and cost of postage)
Volumes available for consultation within our Archive
A guide to Melrose Abbey 1910 published by Wm. Ritchie and Son.
Melrose Abbey H.M.S.O 1949.
Melrose and its People 2002 by Ogilvie Dickson.
The Bunyans of Melrose by Cameron C.T. Bunyan.
The History of Blainslie by Col. W.H. Oliver, Blainslie 1881.
Melrose 1826 published by Melrose Historical Association.
Old Melrose, St. Boswells and Bowden publish by Stenlake Publishing Ltd.
Article 'Ministering in Melrose' by Margaret Jackson Young published in 'The Eildon Tree' issue No 16
(on the life of the Rev George Thomson minister of Melrose (1788 to 1835) and the building of Melrose Parish Church
The Churches and Graveyards of Roxburghshire by Dr. G.A.C. Binnie 2001.
Rutherford's Southern Counties Register and Directory 1867.
County Directory of Scotland 1912 - Borders Towns and Villages.
CD-ROM Pigot's 1837 Directory of Berwickshire and Roxburghshire.
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
Life in Melrose--150 years ago
This is the account of family life in Melrose in the first half of last century, from an autobiography of Catherine Helen Spence.
3 pages or more
11
Colin Wood
The Boston Family of Gattonside
A tale of hand loom weavers from Gattonside who decided to visit a sister in Canada. How they eventually decided to emigrate over to Canada and they walked from New York to Upper Canada. Most of the family are buried in Melrose Church Yard.
2 pages or more
39
M.C.Lawson
The Case of Agnes Gray
Taken from the Session Minutes of Melrose Parish Registers (1723-1741)
A sad tale of a young girl who was cited to present herself before the Kirk Session.
1 page or more
19
My dig into the Past
How a birthday party of Melrose Bridge led to a very interesting tale of one man's family search.
2 pages or more
33
Mr Turner
Melrose to Melbourne - The Story of one Wallace family
Interesting account of the author's Wallace research, ancestral emigration from Melrose to Sydney, Australia, farming, and the army. Two interesting photographs, too.
3 pages or more
67
Richard Balsillie
Escape from Dingleton
Some of the inmates of Dingleton Asylum , Melrose tried to escape. A few entries from the Register of excapes are listed here.
3 pages or more
74
Peter Munro
Langshaw Mill Decree of 1608
Extract Decree relating to Langshaw Mill.
The Decree is interesting for genealogists because of the very considerable number of people mentioned in it.
1 page or more
59
Gregory Lauder-Frost
The Days of Our Youth -
Memories of Melrose
This article has been extracted from a much longer memoir that John Dick wrote when he retired around 1950. He was born in 1889, the second son of William Dick, an ironmonger in Melrose and his wife Isobella Lauder. He emigrated to Canada as a young man where he eventually became the Chief Cost Accountant for Sun Life Assurance Company. John served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I as a quarter-master sergeant. Although he was twice married he had no children.
7 pages or more
67
John Dick
A 'Scot' Moves to South Africa
Biography of Archibald Little, born Melrose, 11th Jan 1829, died 13 Dec 1921, Johannesburg.
Brief notes on his occupations, and service in the Basuto War.
2 pages or more
44
Tony Little
Blind Jamie Donaldson
Account of James Donaldson, whose tombstone is in Melrose Abbey churchyard.
1 page or more
47
Margaret Lawson
McKenzie's around the River Ale
An account of McKenzies in and around the Borders.
4 pages or more
49
W E McKenzie
The Cairncross family - an example of a 16th-17th century family of feuars
This is the text of the authors' talk to the Society on 18th September 2005 titled 'Cairncross, a Border Family'. Outline of a typical noted old family in the Lauderdale/Melrose/Galashiels district, with descriptions of some of the local areas and ownership.
12 pages or more
59
Gregory Lauder-Frost
Cavers & District
Talk given in February 2007 about the history of the kirk and parish of Cavers, and its links with Melrose, St Cuthbert, and other famous people.
6 pages or more
64
Jean Muir
My dig into the past
Peebleshire family and from other parts of the Borders, an interesting tale.
Also history of various bridges over the Tweed.
3 pages or more
34
A. Turner
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
Cousin Fred from Hawick
Problems tracing the history of a Dickson family who had lived in the Lauder area from the 17th century,
3 pages or more
65
Jim Dickson
Kelso's Ragged school
Case histories and fate of children in the 1800s who went to a Ragged School.
These three names from the excellent book that Audrey has written will make you want to purchase this book.
2 pages or more
9
Audrey Mitchell
A Border Lady of the Old School
Interview with Mrs Jane Henderson Thomson Bell aged 83 in 1910 about her life. Written in Scots.
4 pages or more
20
William Dick (1849 - 1932)
Account of William Dick, a blacksmith in Fountainhall and his family
4 pages or more
63
Margaret Dick
Melrose: Past and Present
A story of Melrose from 3000 years B.C. to the Greenyards in 1992.
2 pages or more
22
Mr. T Little
Map of Melrose 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.SELECT TOP 20 [Monument No], Surname, [Burial Place] FROM [Surname Index] INNER JOIN [Burial Places] ON [Surname Index].[Burial Place Id] = [Burial Places].[Burial Place Id] WHERE ([Burial Places].[Burial Place]) like '%Melrose Abbey%' ORDER BY [Monument No] DESC;
20 Most Common Surnames
The 20 most common on gravestones recorded by us in the Melrose Abbey monumental inscriptions volume are (number of gravestones in brackets): SCOTT (34), PRINGLE (21), SMITH (16), MILNE (15), RUTHERFORD (13), TAIT (12), MERCER (12), BROWN (12), ELLIOT (11), THOMSON (11), TURNBULL (10), DICKSON (9), STEVENSON (8), BELL (8), DAVIDSON (8), DODDS (8), TOD (8), ANDERSON (8), BUNYAN (8), BOSTON (7).
The 20 most common on gravestones recorded by us in the Melrose - Weirhill and High Cross Cemeteries monumental inscriptions volume are (number of gravestones in brackets): SCOTT (36), BROWN (23), HENDERSON (16), RUTHERFORD (16), WILSON (16), STEWART (12), MURRAY (12), THOMSON (12), RIDDELL (12), TURNBULL (12), DOUGLAS (11), HALL (11), REDPATH (10), HARDIE (10), GRAHAM (10), SMITH (9), ANDERSON (9), BUNYAN (9), LOCKIE (9), WOOD (9).
Other Sources
A description of the Parish of Melrose by Adam Milne and William Maitland - Kelso 1782.
History of St. Mary's Abbey Kelso and the Town and Parish of Melrose by James Wade Edinburgh 1861.
Melrose Regality Records 1547 -1706 published by the Scottish History Society 1914-1917 (3 vols.).
Melrose's Old Customs and Worthies by J.E. Fairbairn - A Walker and Son Ltd., Galashiels 1946.
Melrose 1826 edited by D.M. Hood - Melrose Historical Association 1980.
Fair Melrose by Anne Gordon, Melrose Historical Association 1989.
Melrose: Its Kirk and People 1608-1810 by John Gilbert - Melrose Historical Association.
The Farmers of Melrose from Mary Stewart's People Margaret H.B. Sanderson Mercat Press Edinburgh 1987.
Historic Melrose by E Patricia Dennison and Russel Coleman Scottish Cultural Press 1998.
Around Melrose edited by John W Butcher - Tempus Publishing Ltd. 1999.
The Story of a Community - Dingleton Hospital (available at Scottish Borders Archives, Hawick).
Melrose School Board Minute Books 1873 to 1947 (Ref - R/ED/1/67-73).
Blainslie School Log Book 1873-1916 Pages 1 to 306.
Langshaw Mill School Log Book 1873-1906.
Langshaw School Admission registers 1874 to 1944 (Ref - R/ED/3/18-19).
Blainslie School Admission registers 1950 to 1964.
Blainslie School Log Books 1873 to 1961.
St. Mary's School Magazines 1935 to 1982 (Ref - SC/R/89).
Newstead Public School Attendance Registers c1916 to 1937 (Ref - SBA/39_).
Newstead School Log Book (Ref - R/ED/2_.
Newstead Subscription School Log Book 1875 to 1927 (Ref - R/ED/16_).
Gattonside School admission registers 1895 to 1941 (Ref - R/ED/3/13).
Gattonside School Log Book 1916 to 1941 (Ref - R/ED/2/22).
Poor Law
Melrose Parish Civil Assessments - Collection Book 1899-1907 ref P/PR/1/17/10.
Melrose Parish Council General Register of Poor 1909-1935 ref. P/PR/1/17/11.
Melrose Parochial Board of Applications for Poor Relief 1871-1883 - ref P/PR/1/17/8.
Melrose Parochial Board Record of Applications for Poor Relief 1883-1890 - P/PR/1/17/9.
Records of Melrose Literary Society covering the years 1863-1986 - includes Minutes, Magazines and correspondence.
The National Archives of Scotland
Melrose Parish Church (Ref CH2/386)
Minutes 1642 to 1660, 1668 to 1686, 1690 to 1721 and 1741 to 1912.
Collections and Disbursements 1690, 1702, 1711 to 1726, 1745 to 1852 and 1852 to 1911.
Accounts of Robert Moffat's Mortification 1761 to 1787.
George Aillie's Mortification.
Moffat and Aillie's Mortification Accounts 1817 to 1821.
Langshaw School Mortification Accounts 1839 to 1867.
Melrose Free Church (St. Aidan's) (Ref - CH3/805)
Minutes 1843 to 1946.
Deacons' Court Minutes 1844 to 1946.
Accounts 1843 to 1857 (Ref - CH3/805).
Melrose United Associate Congregation Church
Congregational Minutes 1822 to 1825.
Managers' Minutes 18322 to 1939.
Communion Roll 1846 to 1871 ref; CH3/904.
Other Items
Records of the Melrose Branch of the Educational Institute of Scotland, 1847-1940 (Ref - GD342).
Personal details of schoolmasters 1768 to 1842.
Minutes of Schoolmasters' Meetings 1830 to 1879.
Population of Melrose Parish 1831 (Ref - CH2/386).
Maps
1809 A Design for the improvement of Old Melrose (Ref - RPH 3656).
1811 Sketch plan of Abbostford in the handwriting of Sir Walter Scott (Ref - RPH 3397).
1826 Plans of the lands of Carolside and Clackmae (Ref - RPH 1206).
The Southern Annual
1957 The First Melrose Seven by John Hart - includes biographical information on thoses who played in the first 'Sevens' (available in Society Archive).
Lothian Health Service Archives
(situated at Edinburgh University Library)
Records of Dingleton Hospital, Melrose 1872-2001 - includes records of patients and staff
(subject to statutory closure periods).
