The inventory essentially lists the whereabouts of all known monumental inscriptions collections, both published and unpublished, from information supplied by several family history societies across the country, as previously co-ordinated by the SAFHS Graveyard Working Group. The data available includes information on the location and documentary evidence of burial grounds across the country, with details including OS map grid references, religious denomination, years when burials were first known to commence, the FHSs holding the records and much more, though it does not contain actual inscriptions. As a tool, it is one of the most useful in the Scottish genealogist's toolkit, so this is a great move to place it online.
Previously available in CD format, the last edition (the 2nd) was published in 2008. I'm unclear as to whether this is the data from that publication, or if it has been updated, but will update in due course when I find more. Even if the data is that from the 2008 edition, there are details of some 3500 burial grounds included, which should certainly be able to help most people!
The online presentation arranges the records alphabetically by county, parish and burial ground name(s). Using the search fields above the list you can instantly jump to the area of interest. The database is free to access.
UPDATE: This is currently the 2008 edition, but each family history society has been asked to provide an update on any new publications produced since then, the details of which will be added to the database. Once this is done the plan is to then update the database every six months or annually.
(With thanks to Bruce Bishop)
Chris
My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI have just come across this website: http://www.safhs.org.uk/burialgrounds.asp and your blog above.
On selecting a parish say Alvah churchyard http://www.safhs.org.uk/burialground.asp?ID=879, it says NBI included? Yes.
Now I understand the NBI is for England and Wales so where is the Scottish version if this website says it is included?
Can you clarify please?
Many thanks, Jemima
Some work was done for the Scottish NBI but was never published as part of that project. Much has been published by respective societies.
ReplyDeleteChris