Newburgh

Newburgh has the Laing Museum which houses both artefacts and information about the town and its history.

The ScotlandsPlaces website lets users search across national databases by geographical location. It includes, amongst other material,

• catalogue entries for maps and plans held by the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh; some maps and plans can be viewed
• photos and details of historical buildings and archaeological sites recorded by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh
• 17th and 18th century tax rolls
• Ordnance Survey [place] Name Books
• an opportunity to transcribe thousands of historic documents

A very good description is to be found in the relevant chapter in History of the County of Fife: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time by John M Leighton, published 1840, online at Google Books

Old Newburgh (Stenlake Publishing) contains many photographs and full descriptions.

Lindores Abbey and its Burgh of Newburgh (published 1876) is at the Open Library.

There were 2 cemeteries in Newburgh parish:

1. Newburgh Churchyard, site built over, in High Street, next to Town Chambers (grid ref. NO 234183; GPS: 56.351089 -3.240952):

• Houses have been built over the site of the old churchyard.
• No lair register is known to exist.
• All headstones were destroyed and there is no record of them, apart from a few listed in Mitchell & Mitchell (see below).

2. Newburgh Cemetery, Cupar Road, Newburgh (grid ref. NO 244182: GPS 56.349814 -3.225765):

• Pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are in Mitchell & Mitchell (see below).
• A transcript of the pre-1855 lair register entries has been published in the Fife Family History Society Journal, vol 9, no. 1.
• The current lair registers (dating from 1847) are administered by Fife Council, Bereavement Services East, County Buildings, St Catherine Street, Cupar, KY15 4TA. Tel. 01334 659336. Fax 01334 412896.
• A CD with photographs of the stones and transcriptions is available from Scottish Monumental Inscriptions or from The Parish Chest.

The pre-1855 monumental inscriptions are listed in Fifeshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855) vol. 3 The north east parishes by John Fowler Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society. ISBN 0901061999

Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 450

The 1841 and 1851 returns can be searched on the FreeCEN website.

The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.

Some census records on microfilm may be consulted in  LDS Family Search Centres around the world.

LDS Library Film Numbers:

	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891
Newburgh	1042703	1042270	103832	103994	203529	208765

(Data provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints)

Further information on the main Fife page.

• Newburgh Kirk Session:

In 1178 St Andrews Tironensian Abbey of Lindores was founded in the district which was later to form the parish of Newburgh, and in 1622 Newburgh was erected into a separate charge with ratification made by Parliament in 1633. The old parish church of Newburgh stood until 1832 when it was removed to make way for the present day building. Following the 1929 union of the Church of Scotland and the United Free Church, Newburgh became termed Newburgh St Katharine's and in 1953 a union was established with the former United Free church congregation of Newburgh St Andrew's, under the name of Newburgh. Newburgh later established a link with Abdie and Dunbog in 1983. The kirk session formerly sat within the Presbytery of Cupar and presently falls within the jurisdiction of the Presbytery of St Andrews.

• Newburgh Associate Congregation:

The Newburgh Associate (Burgher) congregation, which sat within the Presbytery of Cupar, commenced in 1785. There had been a secession congregation here from 1740. The congregation suffered from the commencement of a Relief Church congregation at Newburgh in 1841. The charge became one of the United Presbyterian Church congregations in 1847. Following the union of the United Presbyterian Church and the Free Church of Scotland in 1900, the charge became Newburgh West United Free Church, and was united with Newburgh East UF Church in 1903.

• Newburgh United Presbyterian Churches:

-

• Newburgh and Abdie Free Church:

-

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.

Registration districts covering this parish:

Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts.

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• QS
  Quarter Sessions for the County of Fife
  Registers of summary trials held at Cupar and Newburgh, 1834-1841, 1846-1850, 1858-1866, and 1875-1885

• B/Nb
  Newburgh Burgh records
  Police court fines register and case register, 1910-1974; 

At the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library:

• B/12
  Newburgh Burgh records
  Burgh court books, 1459-1479, 1700-1826, with complaints & processes, 1707-1770; Licensing Court records, 1854-1904.

Surrounding parishes: Abernethy (Perthshire), Auchtermuchty, Collessie, Abdie, by ferry: Errol (Perthshire).

• Geograph
• Flickr

The parish entry in Pigot's National Commercial Directory for the whole of Scotland, 1837, is online at Google Books.

Westwood's Parochial Directory for the Counties of Fife and Kinross for 1862 and 1866 are online at Google Books. On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of the 1862 edition.

Several old gazetteers are available. They all contain descriptions of the parish and many are also worth searching for entries of places within the parish.

• David Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1819, online at Google Books.
• Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, published 1846, online at British History Online.
• Barbieri's Descriptive and Historical Gazetteer of the Counties of Fife, Kinross and Clackmannan, published 1857, is at Google Books.
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4) and John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887), are on A Vision of Britain (click on "Historical places and writing").
• Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland(1892-6) on Electric Scotland

• Ask for a calculation of the distance from Newburgh to another place.

On 15th May 1891, the following subjects were transferred from the parish of Abdie to the parish of Newburgh: Lochmill Farm and Wester Lumbenny Farm.

On the same date, the following subjects, which were always in the County of Fife, were transferred from the parish of Abernethy to the parish of Newburgh: Easter Colzie Farm & woodlands, Colzie Hill and Lumquhat.

The upper parts of Newburgh burgh (Mount Pleasant) are situated in Abdie parish.

A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.

Sasines:

At the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• B/12
  Newburgh Burgh Records
  Register of sasines,1784-1946; Register of sasines minutes, 1822-1946

Valuation rolls:

At the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• VR62
  Valuation Rolls: Newburgh Burgh
  1885-1930; the Roll from 1930 is included in the Valuation Roll for the County of Fife

• VR101
  Valuation Rolls: Fife
  1855-1975; covers the part of the parish outwith the Burgh

At the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library:

• B/12
  Newburgh Burgh Records
  Assessment rolls, 1899-1903, 1933-1940, 1960-1975.

Details of historic buildings and archaeological sites in this parish held by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, are catalogued at ScotlandsPlaces. In the results, click RCAHMS. Unfortunately, not all entries have digital images.

Historic maps:

• On-line maps:
  • National Library of Scotland map collection - main page
  • For 17th, 18th and early 19th century maps, see the National Library of Scotland map collection.
  • Using the geo-referenced maps at the National Library of Scotland allows historic maps to be viewed on top of a modern map or satellite view
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch, 1st edition (1855) Fife sheets 4, 9 at the National Library of Scotland (for the best images), or at old-maps.co.uk or British History online.
  • Ordnance Survey 6-inch editions of 1896, 1901, 1921 and 1938 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • Small images of Ordnance Survey 25-inch editions of 1895, 1901 and 1914 at old-maps.co.uk.
  • A Vision of Britain has the Ordnance Survey one-inch, 1st edition (1850s) and the Ordnance Survey one-inch, Popular edition (1920s) - both showing parish boundaries; Land Utilisation mapping (1930s); and more.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 1st edition (1867-1890) sheets 40 & 48; 2nd edition (1899-1904) sheets 40 & 48; and 3rd edition (1906-1908) sheets 40 & 48 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, Popular edition (1927) sheet 64 at the National Library of Scotland.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 55 at the National Library of Scotland.
• Paper maps:
  • The National Library of Scotland sells paper and digital copies of their maps (select "Enquiries & copies").
  • The Caledonian Maps Victorian Ordnance Survey Map Series sheets 40, 48 (reprint of the 1899/1904 one-inch maps).
  • Old-maps.co.uk sell paper copies of all their on-line maps.
  • Ordnance Survey 1-inch, 7th series (1950s-1960s) sheet 55
  • The best collection of large scale local and estate maps and plans is held by the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh. The RCAHMS also has some plans. They are catalogued on the ScotlandsPlaces website. N.B. Only a few maps and plans are available as digital images.

Present-day maps:

• On-line maps:
  • National Library of Scotland map collection - main page
  • Streetmap
  • Ordnance Survey maps
• Paper maps:
  • Ordnance Survey Landranger (scale 1:50000 -  about 1 inch to 1 mile) sheets 58 - Perth & Alloa, 59 - St Andrews
  • Ordnance Survey Explorer (larger scale 1:25000 -  about 2 and a half inches to 1 mile) 370 - Glenrothes north, Falkland & Lomond Hills

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NO230164 (Lat/Lon: 56.333926, -3.247656), Newburgh which are provided by:

• OpenStreetMap
• Google Maps
• StreetMap (Current Ordnance Survey maps)
• Bing (was Multimap)
• Old Maps Online
• National Library of Scotland (Old Ordnance Survey maps)
• Vision of Britain (Click "Historical units & statistics" for administrative areas.)
• Magic (Geographic information) (Click + on map if it doesn't show)
• GeoHack (Links to on-line maps and location specific services.)

• All places within the same township/parish shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby townships/parishes shown on an Openstreetmap map.
• Nearby places shown on an Openstreetmap map.

Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 - a compilation of overseas deaths recorded in Fife newspapers - has been produced by Andrew Campbell of Fife Family History Society. The Society have recently re-published it in their Publications Series, 28.

The parish is included in Andrew Campbell's compilation of Fife Shopkeepers and Traders 1820-1870 taken from newspapers and directories. It is available in most Fife reference libraries, in the libraries of the family history societies, and at the Manuscript Department of the Special Collections Department of St Andrews University Library. It is also available as Fife Traders and Shopkeepers on CD from Fife Family History Society.

The relief of paupers after 1845 was carried out by the Parochial Board and later by the Parish Council. Their records are at the Fife Council Archive Centre. See Public Records below.

There is a page with census statistics from 1755 to 1961 here.

See also A Vision of Britain and Histpop for population statistics.

Probate records are 'Confirmations' in Scotland.

Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Newburgh may be found in either the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824, commissary business has been conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20).

Indexes and finding aids are given on the main Fife page.

Local sources worth searching for deeds include St Andrews Commissary Court and Cupar Sheriff Court.

Parochial Boards and their successors, Parish Councils, administered many local functions including poor relief.

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• FCC/6/47
  Newburgh Parochial Board / Parish Council
  Minute books, 1845-1930.

School Board records and / or school logbooks are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre. Newburgh records:

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• Newburgh Junior Secondary School
  Log books, 1898-1955.

• Newburgh Madras Female Junior Secondary School
  Log books, 1863-1888.

• Newburgh Parochial School
  Log books, 1863-1898.

• Newburgh School Board
  Minutes, 1873-1919.

Entries less than 50 years old may contain sensitive personal information and are not on open access. If you are a former pupil you are entitled to see your own entry. Please contact the Archivist for further details.

Education statistics for Fife schools in 1891-2 list the following board schools in the parish:

"Statistical accounts" giving fascinating insights into the local topography and history, social and economic conditions, and even the daily lives of people, were written by the parish ministers in the 1790s and the 1840s. For more information see the main Fife pages

• The 'Old' Statistical Account is at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland and Google Books.
• The 'New' Statistical Account is also at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland and Google Books.

The hearth tax, clock & watch tax, male servants tax, female servants tax, and farm horse tax are all on ScotlandsPlaces.

See also the Early Taxation Records page.

Towns were usually referred to as Burghs in Scotland.

At the National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh:

• B/54
  Newburgh Burgh Records
  Newburgh burgh records,1784-1946, including: Register of sasines,1784-1946; Register of sasines minutes, 1822-1946.

At the Fife Council Archive Centre, Kirkcaldy:

• B/Nb
  Newburgh Burgh records
  General correspondence, 1954-1969; police court fines register and case register, 1910-1974; abstract of accounts, 1963-1969.

At the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library:

• B/54
  Newburgh Burgh Records
  Record of services, 1829-1958; Council minutes, 1762-1785, 1827-1974; Police commissioners minutes, 1880-1889; Burgh court books, 1459-1479, 1700-1826, with complaints & processes, 1707-1770; Licensing Court records, 1854-1904. Copies of charters etc., 1266-1789; Registers of Voters, 1833-1870; Polling Book, 1871-1895; Public Health (Scotland) Act 1857 execution papers, 1868-1897; Register of Oaths, 1873-1874; Register of Complaints (on behalf of Inland Revenue), 1874-1875; Chartulary, 1878-1890. Assessment rolls, 1899-1903, 1933-1940, 1960-1975; Abstracts of accounts, 1900-1970. Papers concerning: Newburgh church, 1695-1781; Riding of the marches, 1723-1852; Thirlage, 1763-1790; Burgh customs / lands, 1851-1870; Water supply, 1868-1892; Financial matters, 1843-1894; Legal affairs, 1837-1889. Title deeds and other legal documents, 1457-1542, 1600-1763; Burgess rolls, 1715-1854; Miscellaneous papers, 1801-1912; Correspondence of burgh officials, 1883-1894.

At the Special Collections Dept. of St Andrews University Library:

• B/12
  Newburgh Burgh Records
  Registers of Voters, 1833-1870; Polling Book, 1871-1895.