Yetholm is a parish on the north-east border of Roxburghshire. It is bounded on the north-east and east by England, and on the other sides by the parishes of Morebattle and Linton. (1867: The Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, by John Marius Wilson).
Kirk Yetholm, Yetholm
PRE-REFORMATION GOVERNANCE:
POST-REFORMATION GOVERNANCE:
The earliest notice of a church at Yetholm is about the year 1233. At that period the cure belonged to the church of Glasgow. In 1406 William de Hawdin (Hadden), "laird of Kirkyethame," gave to the monks of Kelso the right of advowson. From them it passed to Patrick, Earl of Bothwell, then to the Buccleuch family, and finally to the Wauchopes of Niddrie. A church, still thatched with heather in 1836, was removed when the present building was erected. A chapel in this parish was dedicated to St Ethelreda.
Includes ministers, licentiates, assistants, readers, and clerks.
(1928: Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, by Hew Scott, D. D.)
Parish registers turned over to the Registrar-General, as a result of the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages (Scotland) Act of 1854. The letters B. D. and M. indicate Births (or Baptisms), Deaths (or Burials), and Marriages (or Proclamations of Banns) respectively. Numbers indicate separate volumes or books. Note: These records are by no means complete or without damage; consult the Detailed List of the Old Parochial Registers of Scotland (1872) to learn more about the condition of the records.
| OPR and RD Numbers | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date Range | Name | Number | Type |
| 1690-1854 | Yetholm | 811 | OPR |
| 1855-1967 | Yetholm | 811 | RD |
| 2009 | Scottish Borders, Kelso | 821 | RD |
| 2026 | Scottish Borders Council; Yetholm Community Council | ||
(2009: Parishes and Registration Districts of Scotland - Old and New, National Records of Scotland)
Local community councils (2026) are provided as a potential source of additional information for settlements within the original boundaries of the parish. (Source)
Statistics from informal and official censuses
Cairns, Davidson, Douglas, Graham, Hogg, Kerr, Tait, Turnbull, Wilson
Note: Names appearing in research materials, other than censuses. Simple names (First name, surname only) have been omitted unless they appear associated with large properties. All women's names, and men's names with occupations, military ranks, or peerage titles are included.
By the Reverend Mr William Blackie.
"When the present incumbent was ordained in the year 1786, he, in the course of his parochial visitation, found the number of souls to be 539 in Yetholm, 323 in Kirk-Yetholm, and 208 in the rest of the parish, making in all 1070 souls. There were 491 males, and 579 females. Upon taking a new survey of the number of inhabitants, reckoning none but those who reside at present (January 1797) in the parish, I found 490 souls in Yetholm, 305 in Kirk-Yetholm, 181 in the rest of the parish; in all 976.
This parish has, I suppose more than doubled its population in the course of this century, because many villages in the neighbouring parishes of Hownam, Morebattle, and Linton, have been totally razed since the memory of people now living, and many of the inhabitants have withdrawn into the towns of Yetholm and Kirk-Yetholm, two villages in which the greatest number of this parish dwell.
The occupations of the inhabitants are thus: 50 tinkers and gypsies, all in Kirk-Yetholm, including women and children; 35 weavers, 9 smiths, 15 wrights, 5 shoemakers, 3 coopers, one of them also a wheel-wright, 49 day-labourers, 25 ploughmen and hinds, 16 shepherds, 4 schoolmasters, 10 millers, 1 skinner, 6 retailers of merchandise, 9 tailors, 9 masons, 4 waulkers and dyers, 3 thatchers, 2 gatherers of eggs having no other occupation, 7 bakers, 7 gardeners, 9 carriers, 2 surgeons, 2 butchers, 3 cobblers, 1 peddler, 1 fiddler, 1 saddler, 1 maltster, and 1 cow dealer."
(This section contains excerpts, at times restructured or paraphrased, from an article appearing in Statistical Account of Scotland, Sir John Sinclair, 1791-1799)
Primary Sources:
Statistical Account of Scotland (1791-1799), Volume 19, p. 609
New Statistical Account of Scotland (1834-1845), Volume 3, Section I, p. 159
See Parish Page Sources for all source information and links.
