Fintray , Berwick

[Julia]

Has anyone any history information on a place in Fintray called Berwick.
Looking at old census late 1880's Berwick may be the name of a Farm,
the family name Walker with Farnie , Thomson and Milne being maiden names.
Any information will be great .
Thank you
Julia

[JustJean]

Hi Julia

As you stated...from the 1881 census Berwick does indeed appear to be a dwelling place. Here is the entry for a Walker family there...

Dwelling: Berwick
Census Place: Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland Source: FHL Film 0203455 GRO Ref Volume 193 EnumDist 2 Page 10
Marr Age Sex Birthplace
James WALKER M 49 M Keith Hall, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Head
Occ: Farmer Of 160 Ac Arable Employing 4 Men
Barbara WALKER M 41 F Insch, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Wife
Occ: Farmers Wife
Margaret WALKER 13 F Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Barbara WALKER 10 F Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Elizabeth WALKER 8 F Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Daur
Occ: Scholar
Alexander G. WALKER 6 M Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Son
Occ: Scholar
Elsie B. WALKER 5 F Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Daur
James WALKER 3 M Fintray, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Son
Emily MICHIE U 17 F Auchterless, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Serv
Occ: General Domestic Serv
James McL. WALKER U 23 M Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland
Rel: Serv
Occ: Farm Serv


This is the only family indexed there which makes it look like a single dwelling.

Best wishes
Jean

[DavidWW]

ScotsOrigins, at http://www.scotsorigins.com/ , is always worth a look in a situation such as this, since there's a search where you can put in any fragment of a placename, and it returns all matches in the 1881 census.

Searching on "FINT" produced hits in the counties of Stirling, Aberdeen, Perth, Inverness, Orkney, Bute, Ayr and Angus, all but a few FINTR[A]Y.

TRhis would lead me to believe that there's an old Scots meaning behind the word, possibly a geographical feature. Nothing from this ScotsOrigin search relating to the county of Berwick, but then that's only a "snapshot" based on the 1881 census info.

David

[Archiver]

It depends on what sort of history you're looking for. Berwick at Fintray appears on the Ordnance Survey Maps One-inch "Popular" edition, Scotland, 1921-1930 available through the National Library of Scotland's digital map service - go to www.nls.uk and click on the digital library tab.

It's on sheet 45 and is just north of Hatton of Fintray, north of Blackburn to the north west of Aberdeen.

Valuation rolls would be able to tell you who owned the property and who was the head tenant, but won't tell you when it was built or why it's called 'Berwick'. These are available at the National Archives of Scotland under reference VR87 and also at Aberdeen City Archives.

In the Place Names of Aberdeenshire book published by the Spalding Club Berwick is defined as follows:

"Berwick, Fintray. 1822 Berreck - Robertson's Map. Looks like an imported name. Berwick meant originally in Old Eng. bere wick, grain farm, ' a demesne farm' NED. But here it may only be a form of Barrack, q.v."
The Place Names of Aberdeenshire by William Alexander, 1952, page 19 in East Aberdeenshire.

[Julia]

Thank you Jean , David and Archiver
After looking at the 1901 census the same family living there the status of the occupation and information I have up till 1941 of the Walker family .
I still belive this Berwick to be a farm . Even your map ref Archiver has the East Bog in the 1901 Census as the neighbors.
regards Julia