Marykirk (Kincardineshire)

Introduction

Please also visit the page of general information applicable to all of Angus & Kincardineshire.

The arms of Barclay of Balmakewan
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Abbreviations

Books & articles

• See also, for history of the parish:
  • The Statistical accounts of Marykirk
  • General histories listed on the page for Books about Angus & Kincardineshire

• Charles Rogers - Memorials of the Strachans, Baronets of Thornton, Kincardineshire, and of the family of Wise of Hillbank, formerly Wyse of Lunan in the County of Forfar (London, 1873)
  The later 1877 edition, entitled Memorials of the Scottish families of Strachan and Wise is here

Statistical accounts of Marykirk

• Old Statistical Account of the 1790s - vol. 18, p. 608
• New Statistical Account of the 1840s - vol. 11, p. 297

Maps of Marykirk

• 1:25000 Ordnance Survey map - published 1957
• 1:10560 (Six inch) Ordnance Survey map - surveyed 1863, published 1868

For the full range of maps of Marykirk, see National Library's Maps.

Photographs of places

See Geograph.org: Marykirk - recent photographs of Marykirk. National Grid ref. NO6865.

Parish church

Aberluthnot Parish Church, Marykirk is located at National Grid ref. NO687655, in Marykirk village. Built in 1806, next to the kirkyard. The mediaeval church belonged to the Priory of St Andrews in Fife.

In the kirkyard are two remaining aisles of the previous kirk, the Thornton Aisle and the Barclay Vault, which were burial aisles of the Strachans of Thornton and the Barclays of Balmakewan respectively. Both were falling into ruin in 1985, when the kirkyard was surveyed [Mitchell], but have recently been restored.

Above: Aberluthnot Parish Church

Above: the Thornton Aisle [Photo taken in 2006, before it was reroofed; Photo of a stone built into the wall of the aisle, bearing the initials AS, presumably for Alexander Strachan of Thornton, and date 1615]

Above: the Barclay Vault [Photo of a stone built on to the vault, bearing Barclay arms (A chevron between three crosses paty) and the initials IB, presumably for James or John Barclay]

Parish ministers 1560-1933

adm.: admitted, ass.: assistant, bapt.: baptised, contr.: contract, dem.: demitted, dep.: deposed, ind.: inducted, lic.: licensed, mar.: married, min.: minister, ord.: ordained, pres.: presented, rel.: related, res.: resigned, suc.: successor, test.: testament, tr.: translated

Muirton Church, Luthermuir (Antiburgher)
Muirton Secession Church was built in 1780 and rebuilt in 1822. It is now Luthermuir Church of Scotland. Located at NO655686, in Church Road, Luthermuir (Feus of Caldhame).

Above: Luthermuir Church of Scotland

Ministers of Muirton Church, Luthermuir (Antiburgher)

Above: The former Free Kirk, at Crosspoles (NO671677) near Hatton, at the side of the A90 road.

Ministers of the Free Kirk, Marykirk; later, United Free Church

Ministers of Sauchieburn Berean Chapel, Marykirk
The chapel was built in 1773.

Ministers of the Congregational Church in Marykirk

See Congregational ministers in Marykirk.

Monumental inscriptions

Monuments in Marykirk Kirkyard bearing pre-1855 information (ca. 120 stones) are listed in Alison Mitchell (ed.), "Pre-1855 Monumental Inscriptions in Kincardineshire" (Edinburgh: Scottish Genealogy Soc., 1999), which can be bought from the Scottish Genealogy Society. (It's listed as "Kincardineshire MI - The Mearns" in their online shop.)

Andrew Jervise recorded some monuments at Marykirk in his "Epitaphs & Inscriptions", vol. 1, pp. 132-8.

Above: the monument to Margaret Low, spouse to John Herd in Balmakelly, later, apparently, in Muirton of Benholm. They were the parents of David Herd, the collector of Scottish songs who was baptised at Marykirk in 1732 and died in Edinburgh in 1810. Several fragments of the inscription are now [2011] lying on the ground. The stone was not found by Mitchell in 1985 [Mitchell, stone no. 112a], but Andrew Jervise recorded the text in his "Epitaphs & Inscriptions", vol. 1, p. 136:

See also Photo of the west face of the monument erected by Isobel Shepherd to her (non-armigerous) husband James Strachan, tenant, Glenhanton, bearing IS IS and the date 1769.

Full texts of all extant inscriptions in Marykirk Kirkyard have been published by the Aberdeen & North-East Scotland FHS. They have an online search facility for names of people on the monuments they have recorded. Their list of publications is here.

See also Marykirk Churchyard.

Marykirk war memorial
Located at NO671679, between Marykirk village and Luthermuir.

Above: general view

1914 Ronald Francis Simson - Lieut. R.F.A. - 14th Sept. 1915 James Watson - Pte. Scots Guards - 25th Janry. John William Ingram - Cpl. Canadians - 23rd April William Eaton - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 13th June 1916 Adam Kesson - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 8th April Joseph Mathers - Pte. Canadians - 3rd June Edward Strachan - Pte. Canadians - 3rd June David C. Low - Lieut. Gordon Hrs. - 18th July William McRae - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 1st Aug. James Falconer - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 5th Sept. George C. Webster - Pte. Black Watch - 8th Sept. George Smith - Pte. Canadians - 1st Oct. George Dutch - Pte. Black Watch - 14th Oct. Andrew Gove - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 14th Nov. Edward Paull - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 25th Nov.

1917 John Taylor - L.Cpl. Gordon Hrs. - 9th Janry. Walter Alexander - Cpl. Gordon Hrs. - 14th Febry. James Freeman - Pte. Canadians - 26th Febry. Robert R. Norris - C.S.M. Gordon Hrs. - 23rd April Arthur R. Tailzour Shepherd - Pte. O.&B.L.I. - 9th May David Gibb - Pte. Royal Scots - 20th June James McWilliam - Pte. Canadians - 22nd June George McWilliam - L.Cpl. Australians - 8th July George Scott - Pte. New Zealand Rif. Brig. - 12th Oct. Charles Stewart - Pte. K.O.S.B. - 12th Oct. John Carnie - Pte. Seaforth Hrs. - 5th Nov. James W. Milne - Pte. Black Watch - 6th Nov. Robert Wishart - Sergt. R.F.A. - 3rd Dec. Joseph Wishart - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 4th Dec.

1918 Albert Wishart - Cpl. Gordon Hrs. - 23rd March William Bruce - Pte. Black Watch - 31st March Charles Wallace - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 9th April John T. McWilliam - Cpl. Australians - 28th April George Gammack - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 15th June John Melville Carnegie - Sapr. R.E. - 22nd June Andrew Dutch - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 10th July Frank Kirkland - Pte. Gordon Hrs. - 1st Aug. Arthur Kemp - Pte. Black Watch - 18th Oct. Thomas R. Gibb - Air Mech. R.A.F. - 30th Nov. John W. Wishart - Cpl. Gordon Hrs. - 24th Dec.

1939-1945 David Harrison - Pte. Gordon Highlanders - 11 Jun 1940 Robert W. Collie - S.B.A. Royal Navy - 19 Feb 1941 H. J. Simson, M.C. - Brig. late Royal Scots - 28 May 1941 Charles K. Bremner - Flt/Sgt. R.A.F. - 13 Oct 1941 David Beattie - L/Bdr. A.A.Mar.R.A. - 14 Feb 1942 James G. Gibb - O/T. Royal Navy - 23 Dec 1943 James Robertson - Pte. Gordon Highlanders - 20 May 1944 John Moir - Pte. Gordon Highlanders - 14 Aug 1944 William K. T. Ritchie, M.M. - Cpl. Gordon Highlanders - 23 Aug 1944 James R. Candy - Cpl. Royal Scots - 8 Jan 1945 Alice Margaret Clark - Pte. A.T.S. - 22 May 1945

See also Scottish War Memorials Project: Marykirk for more photographs and details.

Births, Marriages & Deaths, 1855 to present

Indexes and actual records for Statutory Registers of Births, Marriages & Deaths, beginning 1 Jan 1855, are available online, following registration and the purchase of credits, at the official web-site, ScotlandsPeople.

Burial records for Marykirk are held by the Registrar in Stonehaven. See Kincardine and Mearns Burial Grounds.

Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives hold:

Births, Marriages & Deaths, before 1855

Indexes and actual records for all extant Old Parish Registers (OPRs) (pre-1855) of the Established Church of Scotland are available online, following registration and the purchase of credits, at the official web-site, ScotlandsPeople.

• Births & baptisms

  • 1699 - 1854

• Banns & Marriages

  • 1699 - 1854

• Deaths & Burials

  • 1704 - 1819
  • 1763 - 1854

Church Session Records of Marykirk Parish Church

Land owners

There were 7 proprietors of land in the parish in 1842:

• Earl of Kintore
• Sir Alexander Ramsay of Balmain, bart.
• Robert Taylor
• Alexander Crombie of Phesdo
• Hon. Gen. Hugh Arbuthnott M.P.
• Lieut.-col. Fraser
• Sir John Stuart Forbes, bart.

Estate records

Records of John Tailyour of Kirktonhill (b. 1755, d. 1815), who was a merchant in Jamaica, and other members of the Tailyour family, 1743-2003 - held by the William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. Summary

Poor

Following records are held by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives:

School records

The following records are held by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives:

Census records

Records of the official censuses of the parish in 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 and 1921 are held in Register House, Edinburgh and are open to the public on payment of a fee.

Indexes to all the original census records, and the records themselves, can be accessed online at modest charge at ScotlandsPeople.

Microfilm copies are also widely available in libraries. The 1881 census is available on CD-ROM.

The early censuses of 1801-31 do not name individuals.

Population statistics

* approx. 300 of whom were in the village of Marykirk, 1090 in Luthermuir, 1000 in the landward area.

Testaments & wills

Marykirk was in the Commissariot of St Andrews.

Indexes to all extant pre-1926 testamentary records (wills & inventories of moveable property) can be searched free of charge at ScotlandsPeople. Digital (and paper) copies of the documents can be purchased at that site. See further the introduction to Angus & Kincardineshire at Testaments.

Testaments of Marykirk people from the Register of Testaments of the Commissariot of St Andrews, 1549-1823

Testaments registered at St Andrews that have been lost, for which only entries in the minute books are extant.

Testaments of Marykirk people from the Register of Testaments of the Commissariot of Brechin, 1801-1823

Testaments of Marykirk people from the Register of Testaments of the Commissariot of Edinburgh, 1514-1600

Testaments of Marykirk people from the Register of Testaments of the Commissariot of Edinburgh, 1601-1700

Jacobite rebels - 1745 rebellion
From: A List of Persons concerned in the Rebellion (Edinburgh, Scottish History Soc., vol. 8, 1890)

Clock & watch tax, 1797-8

Images of the original records for Marykirk:

NRS ref. E326/12/2/81

Farm horse tax, 1797-8

Images of the original records for Marykirk:

• NRS ref. E326/10/3/155
• NRS ref. E326/10/10/34