Breaking Stones for Road-Mending and the Stone Project

I went to a very interesting talk in Maxton, Scotland on Monday evening by Jake Harvey, emeritus Professor and former head of Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art, about the international Stone Project.

He talked for well over an hour, with interesting slides and videos, about quarrying and stone working techniques, sculptors and stone workers, sculptures, and exhibitions.

For me, one of the most astonishing views was that of a female quarry worker in Peenya Quarry, India, breaking up stone using a 15kg (33 lbs) hammer. She must have tremendous strength and I wonder if her back aches too ? She has no protection from chips on splinters, not for her bare arms, feet and ankles, or her head, particularly not for her eyes. I suspect her sari is pretty thin and chips could easily fly through thin cloth. I also wondered if she had ever hit her feet, a blow from that hammer would surely break foot bones.

When Jake said she was breaking stone for road repairs, I immediately thought of the women described in the poor registers (for example, Widow Davidson of Jedburgh, Scotland, aged 45, who 'breaks down stones into sand, and makes about 3d a day'), and in the poorhouse at Jedburgh engaged in breaking stones.

There's more about Widow Davidson of Jedburgh in our publications, Jedburgh Parish (1852-1874) and Jedburgh Parish (1875-1893).

I wonder how Widow Davidson was attired, whether she had any protection, and whether she did the work at home or in a quarry, and whether she was supervised. I haven't managed to find any detailed descriptions of this type of work.

Melrose Poor Law Records

In Scotland, the Poor Law was the means of providing food, accommodation, financial assistance and, latterly, care to those in need from the late 16th century onwards. There was a new Poor Law Act in 1845, which created a huge variety of records covering details on those who applied for assistance in specific areas, case studies, details on inspectors and much, much more. In many respects it saw the beginnings of local government, as we know it today. We’ve been transcribing the most important information from applications for relief and registers of the poor after 1845 in association with the Hawick Heritage Hub.

Apart from the obvious interest to the local historian, the publications open up a new horizon for the genealogist, providing details on peoples’ movement between the censuses, descriptions of illnesses suffered, domestic circumstances and more. Uniquely, the records provide details on people not born in the Borders but who lived or died there.

Although most of the people receiving relief lived in Galashiels, Melrose, or elsewhere in the parish of Melrose, some lived in other Borders localities: Clovenfords, Grantshouse, Hawick, Jedburgh, Redpath, Selkirk, St Boswells; in other parts of Scotland: Biggar, Dundee, East Duddingston, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, Joppa, Macmerry, Murthly, Stirling, Stonehaven; or in England: Balsall Heath, Bournemouth, Cumberland.

The list of birthplaces is much larger, most of the applicants were born in an astonishingly wide variety of places in Britain or Ireland, but some were born in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Germany, India, Malta, or USA.

The information transcribed comprises names, place of birth, age or date of birth, address, other family members, description of disablement, date of death, and there’s more information on the images themselves, including occupation, benefit received.
You can see details of many people between the censuses, women’s maiden surnames, family details often not shown in the census, religion, and disabilities; and find people who moved away from their birthplace. If your family has lived here for 3 generations but you don’t know where they came from, these records may help you.

The Society has published the Poor Law records Melrose Parish in 3 volumes, each volume on a CD.
Each CD has chapters on Melrose parish – the historical context, English and Scottish Poor Law history, how it worked, using the Poor Law records, Dingleton asylum, duties of inspectors of the poor, a map of Melrose parish and a railway map, and the index to the Poor Law Records images contained on the CD, illustrations in the text, and digital images of the records transcribed, most of which have additional information.

Melrose Parish Poor Law Records Contents (1884-1930 volume)

In addition, the 1884-1930 volume contains legal cases and an additional map showing Melrose parish after the boundary changes of 1889 (see the Contents page).

The 1871-1874 and the 1884-1930 volumes each cover over 760 named people, the 1875-1883 volume covers over 820 named people.

Their surnames comprise Adams, Agnew, Aikman, Ainslie, Aitchison, Aitken, Alister, Allan, Anderson, Archer, Archibald, Armit, Armstrong, Askew, Atkinson, Auchincloss, Baillie, Bain, Ballantyne, Balmer, Barron, Bates, Bathgate, Beattie, Bell, Bennet, Bennett, Berry, Bishop, Black, Blackburn, Blackhall, Blair, Blyth, Boa, Bogg, Booth, Borthwick, Boston, Bower, Boyd, Bradley, Bradshaw, Braidie, Braidy, Bremner, Broad, Brockie, Brodie, Brogan, Broomfield, Brotherstone, Brown, Brownlee, Bruce, Brunton, Bryce, Brydon, Buchanan, Buist, Bunyan, Burn, Burns, Burrell, Burton, Cairns, Callaghan, Cameron, Campbell, Carey, Carlysle, Carmichael, Carnachan, Carr, Carruthers, Carson, Cartmill, Cassidy, Cavers, Chambers, Chapman, Charleston, Cheyne, Chisholm, Christie, Clark, Cleaver, Cleghorn, Clemiston, Clifford, Close, Closky, Cochrane, Cockburn, Coldwell, Colledge, Collier, Coltart, Colvin, Common, Connar, Connel, Conner, Connor, Conolley, Cook, Corcoran, Cormick, Cossar, Coulter, Cowan, Cowe, Craig, Craise, Cranston, Craw, Crawford, Crines, Crooks, Crosbie, Crossan, Cruden, Cruickshank, Culbert, Culbertson, Cunningham, Curle, Curran, Currie, Cuthbert, D'Agrosa, Dalgetty, Dalgleish, Dalgliesh, Danes, Danoir, Danvir, Darling, Darrie, Davidson, Dawson, Deans, Develin, Dewar, Dick, Dickson, Dinnany, Dobie, Dobson, Docherty, Dodds, Dods, Donachan, Donald, Donaldson, Donelly, Dorey, Douglas, Dowie, Downs, Doyles, Drawhill, Drummond, Dryden, Duncan, Duncanson, Dunlop, Dunn, Duthie, Edenton, Edgar, Egan, Elder, Elliot, Emmonds, Enterkin, Faed, Fairbairn, Fairgrieve, Fairley, Fairnie, Falla, Feely, Ferguson, Fernie, Ferries, Fiddes, Field, Finlay, Finlayson, Fitzpatrick, Fleming, Foggie, Foggs, Foley, Forbes, Ford, Forrest, Forson, Fortune, Fowler, Fraser, Frater, Freil, Friel, Fyfe, Galbraith, Gallocher, Galloway, Ganard, Ganyard, Garvie, Gavin, Gibson, Gilday, Gillespie, Gillies, Gillon, Gilmartin, Gilroy, Givan, Gladstone, Glen, Glover, Goldie, Goldsmith, Gordon, Gough, Graham, Grant, Gray, Green, Greenan, Grey, Grierson, Grieve, Griffen, Grossart, Grossert, Guthrie, Haig, Haldane, Haley, Hall, Halley, Halliday, Hally, Hamilton, Hanlon, Hannay, Hardie, Harkness, Harrison, Hart, Harvey, Hawkins, Hay, Helam, Henderson, Hendry, Henry, Hepburn, Herson, Hill, Hillock, Hislop, Hoban, Hobkirk, Hodson, Hogarth, Hogg, Holmes, Hood, Hope, Houstler, Howard, Hoyle, Huggan, Hughes, Hunter, Hutton, Imrie, Ingles, Inglis, Innes, Instant, Ireland, Irvine, Jackson, Jamieson, Jardine, Jenkinson, Jerdan, Jobblin, Johnston, Johnstone, Jollie, Jones, Keddie, Kelly, Kemp, Kempsell, Kennedy, Kerr, Kiernan, Killin, King, Knox, Laidlaw, Lamond, Lanerd, Larkin, Lauder, Laurie, Law, Lawrie, Lawson, Lawton, Learmonth, Lee, Leech, Lees, Leishman, Leitch, Lennie, Lennox, Leonard, Leslie, Lessels, Lever, Lidster, Lillico, Lillie, Lindsay, Lines, Linton, Little, Lockie, Loftus, Logan, Logree, Lowrie, Luke, Lumsden, Lunn, Lusky, Lynch, Lyons, Mabon, Mack, Mackay, Maginnies, Maguiness, Main, Maloney, Mann, Maquigan, Mark, Mars, Martin, Mather, Mathieson, Mathison, McAdam, McBryde, McCannon, McCardell, McCarron, McCorkindale, McDonald, McDougall, McEwan, McFayden, McFie, McGalvie, McGill, McGinn, McGlasson, McGlinty, McGowan, McGregor, McGrigor, McGuire, McInnes, McInspinte, McInspirit, McIvor, McKay, McKenna, McKingstree, McKinstrae, McLaren, McLauchlan, McLay, McLean, McLeish, McLeod, McLusky, McMichan, McMorran, McNab, McNair, McNamara, McNaulty, McNeill, McPartlan, McPheely, McPherson, McWilliams, Meenan, Meickle, Meikle, Mein, Melrose, Melville, Mercer, Middlemas, Middlemass, Miles, Millar, Miller, Milne, Mitchell, Moffat, Montague, Monteath, Monteith, Moran, Morris, Morrison, Morton, Mossman, Mowat, Mowbray, Muckersie, Muir, Mulvey, Munro, Murchison, Murphy, Murray, Neilson, Nevin, Nichol, Nicholson, Nicol, Nicoll, Nicolson, Nilson, Nisbet, Nixon, Noble, Norrie, O'Brien, O'Connell, O'Donnel, O'Donnell, O'Hara, O'Keefe, Oliver, O'Mailley, O'Neil, Ord, Ormiston, Orr, O'Shaughnessy, Ovens, Paisley, Parish, Parker, Paterson, Patterson, Peake, Peden, Phaup, Philipps, Philips, Phin, Piercy, Pirrie, Pittillo, Polson, Porteous, Porter, Pow, Preston, Pringle, Proudfoot, Pryde, Punton, Purvis, Quinn, Rae, Raeburn, Rankin, Rattray, Redpath, Regan, Reid, Reilly, Rennie, Renny, Renton, Renwick, Reynolds, Richardson, Riddell, Rigley, Robertson, Robson, Romanes, Ross, Rule, Russell, Rutherford, Ruthven, Saddler, Sanderson, Sandis, Schick, Scott, Scougal, Scoular, Screen, Sell, Semple, Sharp, Sheach, Shieils, Shiel, Shields, Shiell, Shiells, Shillinglaw, Short, Shortreed, Sibbald, Simpson, Simson, Sinclair, Sinton, Sked, Skeldon, Skellin, Skelling, Skirving, Slater, Smail, Small, Smellie, Smith, Smith Knox, Sneddon, Snowden, Solan, Somers, Sornbay, Spence, Spiers, Spott, Sprott, Stavert, Steele, Stenhouse, Stevenson, Stewart, Stirling, Story, Stott, Stuart, Sullivan, Sunderland, Sutherland, Swan, Swanston, Sweeny, Swinton, Symington, Tait, Taylor, Temple, Thin, Thomson, Thorburn, Tilly, Tinlin, Tocher, Tolmie, Tosh, Trenchard, Trotter, Tucker, Tully, Turnbull, Turner, Vair, Vallance, Veitch, Von, Waddell, Waite, Walker, Wallace, Wanlass, Ward, Warrick, Waters, Watson, Watt, Wayness, Weatherston, Weir, Welsh, Whillans, White, Wight, Wightman, Wilcox, Wilkie, Williams, Williamson, Wilson, Winning, Winton, Wintrup, Wishart, Wood, Woodend, Woods, Wright, Wylie, Wynne, Wyse, Young, Yule.

Search for people.

The CDs are priced at £12 each or £22 for two different volumes, or £30 for the set of 3; all plus postage.  Two other CD volumes were published last year, Jedburgh Parish 1852-1874 and Jedburgh Parish 1875-1893, both priced at £12, £22 for the pair, plus postage.

CDs can be purchased directly from us via our Contacts page using the contact type ‘Order for Publications’.