the burial record for JEAN CHALMERS NICOLL 1847 age 82 says "at Kirkstyle" Kinfauns. I cannot seem to identify "Kirkstyle" .tried gazetteers and Statistical accounts to no avail. does anyone know what this might have been? thanks Liz of BC Canada

Liz, There is a "Kirkstyle of Kinfauns" on the parish map at http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/2nd_ed_list.html Click on the "Sheet 48 - Perth" link Kinfauns is one of the gray color-coded parishes on the south-central part of the map. As you zoom-in looking for the parish, you should find "Kirkstyle of Kinfauns" just to the left of the "K" of the KINFAUNS parish map label. Pete > the burial record for JEAN CHALMERS NICOLL 1847 age 82 says "at > Kirkstyle" Kinfauns. I cannot seem to identify "Kirkstyle" .tried > gazetteers and Statistical accounts to no avail. > > does anyone know what this might have been? > > thanks Liz of BC Canada

yes, got it....hey, what wonderful maps...a new site to explore...thanks lIz On Apr 5, 2009, at 4:28 PM, Pete Duff wrote: > Liz, > > There is a "Kirkstyle of Kinfauns" on the parish map at > > http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/2nd_ed_list.html > > Click on the "Sheet 48 - Perth" link > > Kinfauns is one of the gray color-coded parishes on the south-central > part > of the map. > > As you zoom-in looking for the parish, you should find > > "Kirkstyle of Kinfauns" just to the left of the "K" of the KINFAUNS > parish > map label. > > Pete > > > >> the burial record for JEAN CHALMERS NICOLL 1847 age 82 says "at >> Kirkstyle" Kinfauns. I cannot seem to identify "Kirkstyle" .tried >> gazetteers and Statistical accounts to no avail. >> >> does anyone know what this might have been? >> >> thanks Liz of BC Canada > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ANGUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

> the burial record for JEAN CHALMERS NICOLL 1847 age 82 says > "at > Kirkstyle" Kinfauns. I cannot seem to identify "Kirkstyle" > .tried > gazetteers and Statistical accounts to no avail. > does anyone know what this might have been? As it is a burial, it is almost certainly in the Kinfauns parish kirkyard, which for some reason or another is named Kirkstyle. More generally, it's important to understand that the majority of place names mentioned in the parish registers are single farms or estates, and that very few of these would ever make it into gazetteers or road maps. It is also essential to be aware that just because you have found on a map a place name matching the one you are looking for, it isn't necessarily the right place. The same place names are found all over the country, so unless the place you have found is definitely in the same parish as the event you have found, you cannot assume that it is. That said, there are various web sites now which offer the opportunity to search for place names on maps at 1:50,000 or 1:25,000 scales. The one I use is www.streetmap.co.uk but many people use www.multimap.com which I don't think is nearly as good. For example when I searched for 'Kirkstyle' on Streetmap it found two, one in Caithness and one in Dumfries-shire, both of which are on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 (Landranger) map. Multimap found neither of these, but suggested a Kirkstile in Aberdeenshire, Kirkstall in Yorkshire and Kirkstead in Lincolnshire. However if the place you are looking for isn't actually named on the modern Ordnance Survey map, it will not be picked up in a search, and not even the 1:25,000 map of Kinfauns has Kirkstyle in Kinfauns named on it. Your next port of call is the Victorian six-inch-to-the-mile Ordnance Survey maps published in the 1870s. These can be viewed online at http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/index.html and at www.old-maps.co.uk Of the two, I find the NLS site very irritating, because even after selecting the six-inch series and the county and parish, the system produces a one-inch series map and you have to zoom in repeatedly to get to the map you selected in the first place. Old-maps is more difficult initially, but once you know how it works you can go straight to where you want to be at the scale you want. Either way, bingo! Kirkstyle of Kinfauns is marked on the six-inch map, and is, as expected, the immediate surroundings of the kirk and school at Kinfauns. Hope this helps. Anne

Anne Burgess wrote: >... > >It is also essential to be aware that just because you have >found on a map a place name matching the one you are looking >for, it isn't necessarily the right place. The same place names >are found all over the country, so unless the place you have >found is definitely in the same parish as the event you have >found, you cannot assume that it is. > > To that I would add that place names do tend to change and /or move over time. What I have observed is that the "base" name of a place (Kinfauns or Delvine, to take two topical examples) tends to be remarkably persistent over long periods of time, but that the "qualifiers" to that name (Upper, Lower, Easter, Home Farm of etc) tend to be much more volatile, with the one farm or building sometimes being known by different names over the course of a century or two. But I have also come across instances where a "big hoose" has been replaced by a new build half a mile away - and has taken the old name with it! >... > >Your next port of call is the Victorian six-inch-to-the-mile >Ordnance Survey maps published in the 1870s. These can be viewed >online at http://www.nls.uk/maps/os/index.html and at >www.old-maps.co.uk > >Of the two, I find the NLS site very irritating, because even >after selecting the six-inch series and the county and parish, >the system produces a one-inch series map and you have to zoom >in repeatedly to get to the map you selected in the first place. >Old-maps is more difficult initially, but once you know how it >works you can go straight to where you want to be at the scale >you want. > > I would suggest it is worth getting the hang of the NLS site, because it is free, and (if you choose the "Google-Maps Overlay" display) gives you something like a full-screen image of the map concerned, which you can capture and print. Old-Maps, on the other hand, gives only a small, fuzzy, onscreen image, in hopes that you will lay out £20 for a printout or download. Gavin Bell

I had the opportunity to look at the Concise Scots Dictionary today. Kirkstile (don't worry about the spelling, it probably varied from place to place or even from year to year) : The stile or narrow entry to a churchyard; (later) a meeting place where announcements would be made; the place where the beir was received prior to burial. In Forfar we have several churches one of which is the Parish Church. It can be approached by a stairway from the main street which leads to what is officially the main door of the church though in practise the majority of church-goers, the main parties at a wedding and the coffin following a funeral use another entry further up the hill which avoids the steps but leads to what probably was the back door. One or other of these, and I have never been sure which, was known as "the Auld Kirk Stile" ... but it has been a long time since I heard that used! I found my gg-grandfather, age 14, listed as a farm worker at Kirkstyle of Rescobie in the 1841 census. Rescobie church is only a few miles from me and I know the area well but I have not been able to identify an existing building as that residence. The old part of Rescobie burial ground is surrounded by a stone wall with a pedestrian gate allowing entry from the road as well as a wider entrance at the rear that would admit a small vehicle, such as a horse-drawn hearse. The track leading to the rear of the church, the rear of the Manse and building which at least one old map identifies as the school and farm on the hill above. For the want of a better idea I have concluded that this track, passing the entry to the church-yard, had been known as the Kirkstyle at the time. In the days before precise addresses and post codes this was probably close enough for anyone seeking out the local residents to start making enquiries. Cheers, Bruce D ----- Original Message ----- From: "Harvie Barker" <harviebarker@shaw.ca> To: <ANGUS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 11:48 PM Subject: [ANGUS] "Kirkstyle" Kinfauns? > the burial record for JEAN CHALMERS NICOLL 1847 age 82 says "at > Kirkstyle" Kinfauns. I cannot seem to identify "Kirkstyle" .tried > gazetteers and Statistical accounts to no avail. > > does anyone know what this might have been? > > thanks Liz of BC Canada > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ANGUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.285 / Virus Database: 270.11.41/2041 - Release Date: 04/04/09 16:53:00