AROUND BRITAIN
Jonathan Scott explores genealogical sources along the border region of Scotland and England
Find your family in the Borders
This month we are in border country – specifically the fringes of Dumfries & Galloway, the Scottish Borders, Northumberland and Cumbria. This includes Berwick-uponTweed, England’s northernmost town, located just 2.5 miles south of the border in Northumberland, and the site of many historic battles and skirmishes between English and Scottish forces. The town has changed hands many times – the last being when England retook it in 1482. In 1551, Berwick-upon-Tweed was made a “self-governing county corporate” and during the Elizabethan period it was heavily fortified. The town is steeped in historical ties to both countries, and it has unique quirks – the football club Berwick Rangers, for example, is the only English team to play in the Scottish Football League.
Despite its name, the Scottish Borders council area does not stretch along the entire border. It rubs shoulders to the west with Dumfries & Galloway, whose southern boundary leads to Cumbria and the Solway Firth.
Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in 1754 tightened the legal requirements for marriage in England and Wales, but not in Scotland, where a simple ‘marriage by declaration’ was still possible. And as Scottish village Gretna Green, near the mouth of the River Esk, was the first village in Scotland on the coach route between London and Edinburgh, it gradually became associated with scandals and runaway marriages, as did other border villages such as Coldstream Bridge and Lamberton.
Researchers interested in the Cumbrian border should visit the archives service website, which details the whereabouts and holdings of the four branch archives in Carlisle, Kendal, Barrow and Whitehaven ( cumbria.gov.uk/archives). Carlisle is the most northerly of the four, holding material relating to Cumbria north of the River Derwent.
Berwick-upon-Tweed’s archive, which moved in 2016, is a branch of Northumberland’s archives service. Since 1980, it has looked after records relating to the former Borough of Berwick-upon-Tweed – an area extending from Berwick, south to Ellingham, west to Ingram and north to Carham on the River Tweed.
While the important county-wide resources remain at the headquarters, the Berwick office does hold borough records back to the 16th century, plus court, estate and business material. It also provides microform copies and digital access to sources relating to wider North Northumberland and Scotland. So, for example, it has microform copies of census returns for North Northumberland from 18411891, as well as returns for all