> OK - how about Cul Beag? I have been trying to narrow down > where this could be, > since my GGGGG grandparents Angus and jean McBean were listed > as being in > Culbegg when they had their son William in 1778 - and that > birth is registered in Croy, > Nairnshire. > Culbeag, Newton of Cawdor, IV12 IRA > or > Culbeag, Blackwood, Muir of Ord.Ross-shire 1V6 7UL > are the two most likely... FWIW I think it is vanishingly unlikely that it would be the one at Muir of Ord. The parish registers are a record of the church's involvement with its parishioners. Hence they generally record the baptism of the children and the proclamation of marriage banns of the people of the parish. A baptism or marriage of a non-parishioner is almost always sufficiently remarkable for the parish of residence of that person to be noted in the registers, unless the place was so close to the parish that it was obvious where it was. Muir of Ord is two counties and several parishes removed from Cawdor, so any baptism of a child from there in Croy would say something like 'residing in Culbegg in the parish of Urray'. So I think you can discount that possibility altogether. As for Culbeag, Newton of Cawdor, the fact that it has a post code (the post code directory says IV12 5QY, not IV12 1RA, which doesn't actually exist as far as I can see, but no matter) means that there is an inhabited house there. So leaving aside the possibility that this is a brand new house upon which the name Culbeag has been arbitrarily bestowed, which parish does it belong to? I note from www.old-maps.co.uk that the boundary between Cawdor and Croy does not quite follow the course of the River Nairn - parts of the right bank are in the parish of Croy, including an area close to Newton of Cawdor. In 1841 the parish of Croy and Dalcross was partly in the county of Nairn and partly in the county of Inverness. In the census of that year Culbeg is listed in Enumeration District 2 of the Nairn part. Not all the places named in the census can easily be identified on the 1958 one-inch map, but some can. Culbeg is listed between Nairnside and Rosefield, and also listed is 'Bog', which is probably Bog of Cawdor. Bog of Cawdor and Rosefield are both on the right bank of the River Nairn. So I am 99% certain that Culbegg/Culbeg/Culbeag is in the parish of Croy and Dalcross, but on the right bank of the river, and therefore its modern address is logically listed under Cawdor, because that is how the postman would approach it now. Have you looked at the baptisms of the other three children of Angus MacBean and Jean Cameron? What do they say about where the family lived? Hope this helps. Anne