|
House ownership records
There are several key sources of information
relating to house occupancy and ownership. In
Scotland censuses were taken every 10 years and
household surveys, or returns, listing individuals
in each household are accessible from 1841 until
1901. Census returns are held by the General
Register Office for Scotland, but microfilm
copies of the censuses can be consulted throughout
Scotland in local studies libraries, family history
societies and genealogical centres. Postal directories
are not archival records in the true sense, but
they are among the most frequently consulted items
in archive search rooms in Scotland, both by archivists
and researchers, and they make a very useful back-up
to original records, such as valuation rolls,
maps and census returns. From
1855 until 1974 Assessors’ offices in each county
and royal burgh in Scotland produced annual valuation
rolls, listing almost all occupied properties
in each parish and burgh. The rolls include the
description of the property, what kind of property
it was (e.g. dwelling house, shop, warehouse,
hospital etc), the name of the owner, and information
about any tenants or occupiers. Valuation
rolls for the whole of Scotland are held by the
National Archives of Scotland from 1855 onwards.
Some local authority archives and local studies
libraries hold less comprehensive runs of rolls
for particular counties and burghs; usually from
about 1890 onwards, but in some cases from earlier.
What to do now
The text above is a summary
of longer articles on property records, valuation
rolls, and postal directories in the SCAN Knowledge
Base. The Knowledge Base also contains answers
to Frequently Asked Questions. To enter the Knowledge
Base click
here.
Frequently Asked Questions
1.
Are valuation rolls useful for family history?
2.
What is the difference between a valuation roll
and a voters' roll?
3.
Why might someone go on appearing in a postal
directory after they have moved from a property,
or even after they have died?
4.
Why might a property not be listed in a postal
directory?
TOP
|
