INTRODUCTION AND NOTES TO THE PARISH LIST
Simon Taylor
- Main Parish List (complete list of parishes in Scotland)
Parishes of Scotland sorted alphabetically by pre-1975 county:
- ABD Aberdeen
- ANG Angus
- ARG Argyll
- AYR Ayrshire
- BNF Banffshire
- BTE Bute
- BWK Berwickshire
- CAI Caithness
- CLA Clackmannanshire
- DMF Dumfriesshire
- DNB Dunbartonshire
- ELO East Lothian
- FIF Fife
- INV Inverness-shire
- KCB Kirkcudbrightshire
- KCD Kincardineshire
- KNR Kinross-shire
- LAN Lanarkshire
- MLO Midlothian
- MOR Moray
- NAI Nairn
- NTB North Berwickshire
- ORK Orkney
- PEB Peeblesshire
- PER Perthshire
- RNF Renfrewshire
- ROS Ross and Cromarty
- ROX Roxburghshire
- SHE Shetland
- SLK Selkirkshire
- STL Stirlingshire
- SUT Sutherland
- WIG Wigtownshire
- WLO West Lothian
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a working document and is far from complete. Any addenda or corrigenda gratefully received (st4taylor@btinternet.com).
This represents as complete a list of parishes, medieval and modern (civil, to 1975) as I have been able to compile. The work was chiefly done 2000-2001 as part of the Scottish Place-Name Database pilot project (Carnegie funded). For the medieval parishes I have provided diocese and deanery, the chief source for which is Cowan 1967. Information about the dedication of each kirk I have put together from various sources.
Explanation of Columns
Abbreviation: I have given each parish a 3-letter abbreviation. These were first developed for modern parishes by Ian Fraser, formerly of the Scottish Place-Name Survey, School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh. No abbreviation of a civil parish which existed until 1975 contains the letter X. I added to this list a set of 3-letter abbreviations for those parishes which had ceased to exist as separate parochial units by the beginning of the 20th century. These all contain as one of their 3 letters the letter X.
Name: Name of parish.
Name and Details: Name of parish with brief notes.
Pre 1975 county: This uses the standard 3-letter county abbreviations as used by Nicolaisen et al. 1970, and Nicolaisen 1976 (2001). Change over time is expressed by a comma, with the later one first; if a parish was in more than one county, this is expressed by a forward slash /. e.g.
(Logie) STL, STL/CLA/PER = Logie latterly in STL, formerly partly in STL, partly in Clackmannanshire, partly in PER.
(Arngask) PER, PER/FIF/KNR, FIF = Arngask latterly in PER, formerly partly in PER, partly in FIF, partly in KNR, and before that wholly in FIF.
In the case of the parishes labelled INV/NAI, work still has to be done in working out the exact details.
Medieval dioc. & deanery: these details, taken almost exclusively from Cowan 1967, are given only for those parishes which existed pre-1560. For parishes which were united after that date, diocese and deanery are given only for the pre-union parishes, not for the united parish.
Each deanery is abbreviated by taking its first 4 letters. e.g. ARE Aber = diocese of Aberdeen, deanery of Aberdeen; ARE Gari = diocese of Aberdeen, deanery of Garioch.
Dedication: saint or saints to which the parish kirk was dedicated.
Earliest date of dedication: i.e. the century in which the dedication is first mentioned.
Source for dedication: source of earliest mention of dedication.
Source Specific: if Source is a written one, then the page, folio or charter number.
Abbreviations and References
Cowan, I. B., 1967, The Parishes of Medieval Scotland, Scottish Record Society vol. 93.
Nicolaisen, W.F.H., et al., 1970, The Names of Towns and Cities in Britain, compiled by Margaret Gelling, W.F.H. Nicolaisen & Melville Richards, ed. W.F.H. Nicolaisen.