The Kirk was involved in many aspects of parish life, as is demonstrated in this example taken from the kirk session minutes of Kirknewton in 1655 (National Archives of Scotland reference CH2/412/1, p157.) The entry discusses the proceedings of a case to foster a child.

Note how descending letters cause interference in lines below, making some words difficult to read. Another cause of interference is the session clerk’s letter d, which loops backward. In the penultimate line, the third word (childe) is tricky to read because it is interfered with by the descending p in the line above and by the d in the word itself, whose stroke runs backwards through the rest of the letters.

The place name on line 4 is an abbreviated form of Edinburgh. The letters Edinbur appear along with a superscript symbol, which looks like a t, but which is probably just a cross as a general abbreviation mark.

The questions this week are: who was the child’s natural mother and foster parents and who was the minister in Edinburgh at the time?

Help
For help with reading the poser, use our coaching manual. The following areas may be of particular assistance.

Interference
Capital letters
Letter r
Letter s




Answer