John Cameron said: >Fort William lies within the Parish of Kilmallie - although it is considered a >distinct place of worship, since a "Quoad Sacra" (please note - I have no idea >what that means!) church was erected there. "Quoad sacra" literally means "for sacred purposes". Here's a paragraph from the LDS Church's Family Search web site. The page is at the URL: http://www.familysearch.org/sg/Scotland.html: "Each local parish (pairish, parochin) keeps records. Quoad sacra parishes are those set up for ecclesiastical purposes to take care of those people who could not conveniently attend the parish church. To find records of people living in quoad sacra parishes, you must search the surrounding parishes." Sometimes, in the OPRs, a particular farm or property, geographically within one parish, is described as belonging to another "quoad sacra". In light of the above, I presume that this was because it was easier for the residents at that place to attend the church in the next parish, rather than their own. I believe that the expression is found only in Scotland. The equivalent idea in England is expressed, I think, by the phrase "Chapel of Ease" - in a big parish, a second chapel, without parochial rights, would be established to serve a large population far distant from the parish church. Harry Duckworth