ABSTRACT
The parish in this history is the rural parish of the Scottish border, and Westrigg features in it only as a source of illustration. I have taken the turn of the century as the starting point because many informants - some native to the parish and some not - could clearly recall social life as it was at the time. I have also used official records of Westrigg and a neighbouring parish, and some standard secondary sources in reconstructing the social organization of the parish. The use of such varied sources makes for a certain ambiguity in that data concerning the parish as an administrative unit, for example, applies to all parishes, while data concerning forms of entertainment perhaps applies only to the informant’s own parish. From such comparison as I was able to make however, I am satisfied that the organization and changes described in this and the next chapter apply to all parishes in the district.
