Borders Family History Society

Our archive and search room is now open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm. Keep up to date via our Facebook page and Twitter.

Scottish Borders Counties

The ancient counties that are included in the Scottish Borders are shown below. Click on the county to access a map showing all the parishes in that county. From there you can access the individual parish pages. Whilst we've provided some information about each parish including links to relevant web sites, we do not claim that these are comprehensive. Good starting points for more information are the individual county pages on Cyndi's List, GENUKI and the Family Search Wiki.

NOTE - The parishes listed are the historic parishes, not the current ones. Whilst there's nothing quite as formal as a cut-off date in practice it's those that existed in 1855 the point at which Civil Registration was introduced to Scotland and the cut-off date for the Old Parochial Records held by General Registrar's Office for Scotland (and available on the Scotland's People web site).

To get directly to the page for a specific parish click the link below:
Abbey St Bathans, Abbotrule (on Southdean & Abbotrule), Ancrum, Ashkirk, Ayton, Bedrule, Bowden, Broughton, Glenholm & Kilbucho, Bunkle & Preston, Caddonfoot, Castleton, Cavers, Channelkirk, Chirnside, Cockburnspath, Coldingham, Coldstream, Crailing, Cranshaws, Drumelzier, Duns, Earlston, Eccles, Eckford, Eddleston, Edgerston, Ednam, Edrom, Ettrick, Eyemouth, Fogo, Foulden, Galashiels, Glenholm (on Broughton, Glenholm & Kilbucho), Gordon, Greenlaw, Hawick, Hobkirk, Hounam, Hutton, Innerleithen, Jedburgh, Kelso, Kilbucho (on Broughton, Glenholm & Kilbucho), Kirkhope, Kirkton, Kirkurd, Ladykirk, Langton, Lauder, Legerwood, Lilliesleaf, Linton, Longformacus, Lyne & Megget, Makerstoun, Manor, Maxton, Megget (on Lyne & Megget), Melrose, Mertoun, Minto, Mordington, Morebattle, Nenthorn, Newlands, Oxnam, Peebles, Polwarth, Preston (on Bunkle & Preston), Roberton, Roxburgh, Selkirk, Simprim, Skirling, Smailholm, Southdean & Abbotrule, Sprouston, St Boswells, Stichill, Stobo, Swinton, Teviothead, Traquair, Tweedsmuir, West Linton, Westruther, Whitsome, Wilton, Yarrow Yetholm.