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Whittinghame

"WHITTINGHAM, a parish, containing a post-office village of its own name, in Haddingtonshire. It is bounded on the south by Berwickshire, and on other sides by the parishes of Garvald, Morham, Prestonkirk, Stenton, and Dunbar ... Whittingham parish formed of old two chapelries which were subordinate to the church of Dunbar. The chapel of Whittingham served the lower district, and that of Penshiel the Lammermoor district; and these chapels formed two of the prebends of Dunbar church after its being made, in 1342, a collegiate establishment. Penshiel chapel stood below Penshiel tower, in a glen which is still called from it Chapel-haugh. The Earls of March held their baronial courts at Whittingham."
from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson, 1868.
A lengthier description is available.

This map shows the location of the parish in the county.
 [View a zoomable and navigable Map of the Area provided by Multimap.]

Cemeteries

The Scottish Genealogy Society holds a list of pre-1855 gravestones in this parish (61 in total) in its library in Edinburgh. Similar lists may be available elsewhere, for example in the East Lothian District Library's Local History Centre at Newton Port in Haddington.

A survey of the churchyard has also been completed recently.

Church History

A brief history of the church may be found here.

Church History

19th Century ministers of the parish:

 Rev James Lumsden, a son of the Schoolmaster at Smailholm [Roxburghshire], took up the office in 1804.
Married Isabella Dale of Scoughall, North Berwick, East Lothian, 1807.
Died on 15th April 1850.

Rev Walter Scott, born Balmaghie, Kircudbrightshire, 1820, son of Walter Scott, Boatcroft, took up office in 1847.
Died, unmarried, 19th November 1864.

Rev James Robertson A.M., eldest son of Charles Robertson, schoolmaster of Lethendy, Perthshire, took up office in 1865.
Died 27 May 1920, aged 84, after serving in the parish for 55 years.

Church Records

The parish church (Church of Scotland) has registers dating from 1627. Old Parish Registers (before 1855) are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh, and copies on microfilm may be consulted in local libraries and in LDS Family History Centres around the world. Later parish registers (after 1855) are often held in the Scottish Record Office as are any records of non-conformist churches in the area (often unfilmed and unindexed, and only available there).

Civil Registration

Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. For details of these and other records held at the General Register Office in Edinburgh, see the GRO tutorial.

Gazetteers

Extracts for this parish from the 1868 National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland are available.


Maps

The Scottish Record Office holds the following as part of its collection of maps and plans:

Monumental Inscriptions

The War memorial here commemorates 11 who died in the First World War:
 

Population

Here are some figures showing the parish's population through time:
 
Year Population
1755 714
1801 658
1831 715
1861 710
1871 657
1881 639
1891 586
1901 521
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Last updated 3 Feb 2004

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