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© J.H.Mathieson
The Border Reiver Toolkit The Border Reiver Tool Kit is a series of Google Earth PRO files of interest to researchers with Reiver or Border ancestors. Google Earth Pro and the files are freely available for non commercial use. The resources include:                                             An Historic Overlay: An historic 19th century overlay is accurately geo-referenced to  the border region. It illustrates the urban settlement pattern, road networks and topography. Download and save the geo-referenced tiff file to a directory of  your choice. From within Google Earth Pro use the File/Import function to open the file. Go to the directory where you saved the file. Under file type select GeoTiff(*.tif) and the file will appear in your directory. Click on the file to open and you will be prompet to “scale” or “create super overlay”. The super overlay will allow you to zoom in for additional clarity of the map features. If you select “super overlay” you will be prompted to select a directory “where the super layer hierarchy can be saved”. I recommend the same directory where you saved the overlay file. Once the overlay is drawn you can then save it and other files to “my files folder” for easy future access. Boundary files: The following boundary files are included. A set of county boundaries for both Scotland and England  border counties.  For convenience Scotland border files are shown in blue, while English border files are shown in red. The English and Scottish march borders in which the border Reivers were most active. A set of clan boundaries found within the Scottish border region. The clans are sorted alphabetically in the folders to facilitate searches. A set of 459 English parishes boundaries found within the border region. A separate “parish names” file is included. This file can be toggled on or off to see the parish names. The name file should only be used when zoomed in to a specific area. A set of 157 Scottish parish boundaries found within the border region. The information includes the name and area of each parish. A separate “parish names” file is included. This parishes are listed alphabetically and can be toggled on or off to find the location of specific parishes. It should only be used when zoomed in to a specific area. A set of 170 English Castle locations. Each feature includes the structure name and alternate name if used. Additionally the Civil parish, historic county and modern authority are noted. The type of structure, state of remains and confidence in the listing of the site are included. A set of 219 English Peel tower locations. Each location includes the structure name and alternate name if used. Additionally the Civil parish, historic county and modern authority are noted. The type of structure, state of it’s remains, and confidence in the listing of the site are included. A set of 149 Scottish Castle locations found within the Scottish borders. Each location includes the name of the castle or its remains, the county in which it is found, and a link to the Stravaiging website which provides links to additional map services including Bing Google and National Library of Scotland historic overlays and photos of the castles. A set of 198 Scottish Towers located within the Scottish borders. Each location includes the name of the castle or its remains and the county  in which it is found. A link to the Stravaiging website provides a brief history of each feature and photos of the structure or remains. Border Surnames: Distributions of the major border surnames can also be downloaded. Each surname is calculated as a percent of the  total population in its area. Surnames which predominate on the Scottish side of the border are shaded in blue, those on the English side are shaded in red. additional names will be added in the future.
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