Delving into family history

Tracing Your Family History in Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal has been compiled by local archivist Linda Bankier with help from volunteers who came together for the town’s 900th anniversary commemorations last year.

Linda said: “This guide has been compiled as part of the Heritage Lottery-funded Berwick 900 Our Families project to help those who want to trace their family history in the Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal area.

“The aim of the project was to undertake research on families from the area and to make people more aware of what is available to them.

“Along the way, we have unearthed some amazing stories and connections.”

The guide itself covers a variety of sources, both basic and advanced, which could be used for research.

Some of these are kept in the Berwick Record Office while others can be consulted further afield or online.

There are also several case studies of well-known Berwick families, including the Borthwick and Dixon families, the Greenses, the Maclagans, Temples and Willobys.

Linda, in the book’s introduction, writes: ‘We hope this guide will help you to underake your own research in the Berwick area and, in general, make you aware of the wide variety of sources which are available to help family historians.

‘If used together, these sources can help ‘put flesh on the bones’ and build a picture of your ancestors, their lives and the area in which they lived.’

The book costs £8.99, was printed by Fantasy Prints and is available from Berwick Record Office.