A place called Coppermine

[theKiwi]

Hi All

I have the OPR for the birth of a great great great uncle which reads:

Alexander Son to George Moffit & Isabell Clark was born at Coppermine on the eighteenth day of December Eighteen hundred and eighteen years.

This is recorded in

The Register of the baptism, Proclamations and Marriages in the united Parochoes of Bunkle and Preston since withsunday 1704 on page 122.

So the question is where/what is Coppermine?

I've been able to find the names of the places - farms usually - that George and Isabell's subsequent children were born. Most of them show on this map here

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dl ... 05&A=Y&Z=4

Blackerstone, Drakemire, Hoardweel, but I'm blessed if I can find Coppermine.

In 1988 an uncle of mine was in the area asking about Coppermine and this is what he wrote

It would appear that they then moved through Duns (A6112) to a place then known as the Coppermines. We tried for some time in 1988 to find this place, but it was only when we were talking to some elderly folk at Grantshouse (A6112 X A1) that one chap remembered that there was in fact a copper mine at a place called Alba, about four miles away toward Preston. It had been reworked during World War Two, but was now abandoned. We eventually found this place at the junction of the Otter Burn and the Whiteadder water, off the A6112. The Otter Burn lived up to it's name, and supplied the splendid spectacle of an otter at it's best, sculling around and playing in the water, until disturbed, then swimming off up stream to a quieter place. The mine consisted of a shaft about three feet high and one and a half feet wide, driven horizontally into the sheer rock face about two feet above the water level. Needless to say we did not explore too far into the mine portal. This place is now known as Elba, with about the only visible relic being a now derelict house which was maybe where George and Isabel had the first of their of their seven children.

The red arrow on the map is pointing to the junction of the Otter Burn and the Whiteadder water. On the Ordnance Survey map of that same area, the place is named "Ford Elba" where the two waters meet, but again no mention of "Coppermine".

So has anyone any further knowledge about this?

Thanks

Roger

[AndrewP]

Hi Roger,

Coppermine House is there on the 1850s Ordnance Survey map.
http://www.nls.uk/maps/early/os_scotlan ... index.html
Click on Berwickshire (eastmost county in the southeast corner)
At the northmost point of the county, come down two grid-sqares and click on the centre of that square.
Click on the centre of that square a few more times until the placenames become legible.
Right in the centre of the square is a bold X (map square 10)
Look rightwards of that X and up a little you will find Elba, then Coppemine House.

To see the same place on a modern OS map, go to:
--> OS map - Coppermine <--
Copppermine was across the river from Elba towards the O of Otter Burn.

All the best,

AndrewP

[theKiwi]

Hi Andrew

Thanks so much for finding that for me. The map I have is obviously a newer one - it says at the top left

Reprinted by Caledonian Books, Collieston, Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland 1987
Third Edition

and at the bottom is dated as

Surveyed in 1855-58 and published [snip] 1864
Revised in 1901 and published by [snip] 1908

So Coppermines House had disappeared by the time the map I have was published. Perhaps I need to get a copy of one of these older maps.

Has anyone any experience of buying the maps from this web site - on CD or as paper copies or both?

Any other outlets for them in the USA that might be easier than me trying to get some £ to Scotland?

Thanks

Roger

My great great great grandfather George Moffat had children at all of the farms in that area it seems - Coppermine, Hoardweel, Blackerstone and Drakemire.

PS - I meant to include this in my first post - what's up with http://old-maps.co.uk ?

They've obviously "upgraded" the site and at least to me on my Macintosh rendered it absolutely and completely useless.

No Cheers

Roger

[AndrewP]

PS - I meant to include this in my first post - what's up with http://old-maps.co.uk ?

They've obviously "upgraded" the site and at least to me on my Macintosh rendered it absolutely and completely useless.

No Cheers

Roger

Hi Roger,

I agree that Old-Maps update has left the site slower, and I think the maps are of lower resolution.

All the best,

AndrewP