The Archives and Local History section, Ewart Library, Catherine Street, Dumfries is the local archive. There is an online catalogue.
National collections, all with material concerning Wigtownshire:
- The National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh (formerly called the Scottish Record Office, the National Archives of Scotland and the General Register Office for Scotland) contains the major Scottish records for family historians. Access to its online resources is via the ScotlandsPeople website. ScotlandsPeople can also be accessed at local family history centres in Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Hawick, Alloa and Inverness.
- Online resources:
- civil registration records (births, marriages and deaths since 1855)
- census returns (1841 - 1911)
- pre-1855 Church of Scotland parish registers
- baptism, marriage and burial registers of some other presbyterian churches
- birth (pre-1908), marriage (pre-1934), death and other records of the Roman Catholic Church.
- wills and testaments (1513 - 1925) held by the National Records for Scotland.
- soldiers' wills, 26000 for the First World War and 5000 for the Second World War, but also including some from 1874 to 1964
- valuation rolls (1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925 and 1930)
- the Public Register of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland (1672 - 1909). This register of Coats of Arms in Scotland is kept by the Court of the Lord Lyon.
- surviving records of the Military Service Appeals Tribunal, 1916-18
- Its multitude of other resources which are not online include later wills and testaments; records of the Church of Scotland - including kirk session records; records of dissenting and other churches; legal and court records; business records; land records; maps & plans; etc., etc. Catalogues and indexes are on this research page.
- The Research Guides A-Z are extremely useful pages.
- The Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) provides access to the holdings of over 50 Scottish archives participating in the network. It has a searchable catalogue of these collections and has a host of resources and articles which will prove invaluable for anyone interested in the written history of Scotland.
- The Scottish Screen Archive has a lot of footage of Wigtownshire.
- The National Collection of Aerial Photography website has photographs of Wigtownshire with more to be added. The site is free to browse, although in-depth viewing requires a subscription.
- Britain from Above has aerial photos from 1919 - 1953.
- The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, is "an information treasure trove for Scotland". Although it is a Legal Deposit Library, the more common resources for genealogy are more easily accessed elsewhere. However, its online digital library is outstanding. Residents of Scotland can access its digital collections from home. It has the best collection of maps of Scotland (see Maps below) and also has Ordnance Survey air photo mosaics 1944 -1950 for a small part of Wigtownshire.
- 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 former Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Edinburgh, now part of Historic Environment Scotland - see below
- 17th and 18th century tax rolls
- Ordnance Survey Object Name Books
- an opportunity to transcribe thousands of historic documents
- Historic Environment Scotland is 'the lead public body set up to investigate, care for and promote Scotland’s historic environment'. A complex website covers everything imaginable in the historic environment. A start can be made by searching the Canmore database, the online catalogue to Scotland’s archaeology, buildings, industrial and maritime heritage.
- The National Archives (TNA) at Kew, London, is the principal repository for English and Welsh records, but it also has a lot of Scottish material. Its catalogue, 'Discovery', in addition to all the material held at Kew, also contains entries for many records held by other repositories.
- Scran - an online learning resource base with over 390,000 images and multimedia files from Scottish museums, galleries, archives and the media - has a lot of material concerning Wigtownshire. A subscription is required to view anything bigger than thumbnail pictures, although many local libraries allow free access.
- The Archives Hub enables you to search across a wealth of archives held at over 220 institutions across the UK.
- See also the Scottish archives page.
Internet collections:
Local collections:
- Most archive material concerning Wigtownshire is now held by Dumfries and Galloway Council in Dumfries - at the Archives and Local History section of the Ewart Library. Some local material is held at Stranraer Museum and local libraries. The parish pages show what materials are held at which location. An excellent guide to their contents and locations is Researching Local History - A Guide to Sources held by Dumfries and Galloway Council, ISBN 094628072-X, available from the Council, or local bookshops, £5.99.
- The Archives and Local History section, Ewart Library, Catherine Street, Dumfries is the local archive. There is an online catalogue.
- Stranraer Museum, 55 George Street, Stranraer DG9 7JP (A museum which also holds some local archives.)
- Local Libraries in Dumfries and Galloway may also possess some local history material. Those in Wigtownshire are in Newton Stewart, Port William, Stranraer, Wigtown and Whithorn.
- Dumfries and Galloway Family History Society have a research centre at 9 Glasgow Street, Dumfries, DG2 9AF. They hold a lot of information for family historians in the counties of Dumfries-shire, Wigtownshire and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Their publications include local monumental inscriptions, census indexes, and much more.
