Bill Wood wrote: > This could be a useful site for getting an overview of distribution of > parishes within shires and counties. There is a page showing the map > of the parishes inside each county > > http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-map-aberdeen.htm - shows > aberdeenshire and Banffshire parishes The general appearance of the map, and the fact that the image bears the name of the Aberdeen and North-East Scotland FHS initially led me to think that this was a scan of the a map which ANESFHS sells - but comparing it with my paper copy of that map, I see that the online version has some serious inconsistencies: The parish of St Fergus (just north of Peterhead) is shown as lying in a separated part of Banffshire, a situation which came to an end in 1891, when the parish was transferred to Aberdeenshire. But if the map aims to show the pre-1891 boundaries, then there it should also show large parts of 3 other parishes (Cabrach, Gartly, Glass) as belonging, rather anomalously, to Banffshire, along with smaller bits of other parishes (Cairnie, King Edward, New Machar and Old Deer). There were also parishes divided between Banffshire and Moray (Bellie, Boharm, Inveravon, Keith and Rothes). In fact, as regards the parish of Boharm, this map gets it 100% wrong - until 1891, this parish straddled the Banffshire/Moray border, but the anomaly was resolved in that year by placing the whole parish in Banffshire, not in Moray. The boundaries of the pre-1891 parishes and counties are complicated, and understanding them (and their possible implications for where records of our ancestors might be found) is not greatly helped by this map. It is also at too small a scale to show some of the oddities in parish boundaries (for example, the fact that various Aberdeenshire parishes had "detached sections" surrounded by the territory of other parishes (eg Aberdour, Aboyne, Cluny, Fraserburgh, Methlick). > 1. I do not know the difference between a shire and a county - if > somebody does please educate me (Thankyou) What's in a name? They are essentially different labels for the same thing. Originally "Shires" were found in England, but not in Scotland. I have seen no maps dating earlier than the 18th century that show "Shires" in Scotland. Earlier maps used older designations for bits of the country - Aberdeen has "Buchan", "Formartine", "Mar" and "Garioch", while much of the lower-lying part of Banffshire bore the name "Enzie". These names had their origins in the old Earldoms, and persist in common use (although mostly not as formal administrative areas). With the gradual development of Royal justice, these divisions came to be overlaid by areas whose territory approximated to those of the "traditional" counties. However, many of them were not known as "X-shire" but had names such as "Moray", "Angus", "Midlothian". In the 19th century, the use of these traditional names was, officially at least, replaced with a rigid series of "X-shire" names on the English model, including barbarisms like "Linlithggowshire", "Edinburghshire" and "Haddingtonshire" (instead of "West Lothian, Midlothian and East Lothian". The older names were officially reinstated in the early 20th century (1919?). > 2. Parish boundaries can change over time Indeed - and the changes can have serious implications for family history. > 3. County and no doubt shire boundaries can change over time > (Banffshire dissappeared completely !) True, although it is important to remember that the resources we are going to be consulting for family history (OPRs, civil BDMs, Census, Poor Law, etc etc) were originally organised according to the boundaries in force at the time, and are not magically re-catalogued whenever there is a shakeup in administrative boundaries. The majority are catalogued according to the boundaries as they existed between 1891 and 1974. But this means that some information may appear to be in the wrong place. Knowing where the boundaries lay at the date you are researching can sometimes make the difference between finding your ancestor and losing him or her. To illustrate the sort of problems that can arise, I concocted a fictional biography (but one based on established facts of the historical geography of one Banffshire parish) which you can read at: http://www.abdnet.co.uk/genuki/BAN/countyandparish.html I have spent some time establishing, for Banffshire at least: (a) exactly which place were affected by the boundary changes of 1891 (b) what the likely archival implications are These are documented on the Banffshire pages which I maintain for GENUKI (at: http://www.abdnet.co.uk/genuki/BAN/ or via the GENUKI main portal). On the main page for each parish affected by the changes there will be a section called "Historical Geography" which describes the changes in outline, a section called "Names, Geographical" which will contain one or more Gazetteers listing the placenames of the parish and its various subdivisions) and various of the other sections ("Censsus", "Church Records" may give further detail. Gavin Bell