Valuation rolls digitisation
The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) began a project to digitise the valuation rolls (VRs) for Scotland from 1855-56 to 1915-16 in December 2007. This work is near completion and means that all VRs for this period are no longer available for production in the search rooms except digitally, using Virtual Volumes. The only exception to this are the VRs for Undertakings Public (VR121), which have not been digitised. You should bear in mind that a single volume may contain a number of years of valuation rolls so be sure to check the online catalogue
for the full covering dates of the VR in which you are interested, especially for the smaller counties and burghs for 1916-17 to 1929-30.
You should bear in mind that a roll may cover many years so be sure to check the full covering dates of the VR in which you are interested, for example:
Reference |
Place |
Dates |
Available |
VR102/1 |
Glasgow Burgh |
1855-1856 |
No |
VR29/4 |
Elgin Burgh |
1863-1866 |
No (covers 1865-66) |
VR89/25 |
Argyll County |
1879-1880 |
Yes |
VR89/50 |
Argyll County |
1904-1905 |
Yes |
Valuation rolls index
An index to a selection of valuation rolls is now available in our search rooms.
The index will contain entries for the valuation rolls for the following years:
- 1855-56
- 1865-66
- 1875-76
- 1885-86
- 1895-96
- 1905-06
- 1915-16
At present, the index is incomplete but entries are regularly being added. A list of the volumes added is available within the index application.
The information contained in the index consists of the description and situation of each property and the proprietor, tenant and occupier thereof. Each index entry is linked to an image of the original page in the valuation roll.
Valuation rolls before 1855
Local and central government gathered information about the ownership
and tenancy of land and houses in order to raise property taxes. Before
1855, only a very few records of such taxes survive. There were several
poll and hearth taxes levied at the end of the 17th century and from
1667 there was a Land Tax. The surviving records of this land tax
are in the Exchequer series. They record the value of land for each
county down to parish level, together with the names of the proprietors.
Remember that until well into the 20th century very few Scots owned
landed property. These records therefore relate to only a tiny proportion
of the populace (perhaps as little as 3% of the population in the
18th century) and they do not list either tenants or occupiers. This
national land tax was also levied on the Royal Burghs but the collection
records do not list burgh inhabitants.
Loretta Timperley used the land tax records to publish 'A Directory
of Scottish Landownership in 1770' (Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh,
1976). This shows all the named landowners for that year together
with the names and values of their properties, in so far as these
can be gleaned from the record. This publication will be available
in good reference libraries and it gives an accurate sense of the
type of information available from the original record.
Some local land valuations may also be found in heritors' records
(ref HR) and among private Gifts and Deposits of family papers (ref
GD) held in the National Archives of Scotland (NAS).
Valuation rolls from 1855-1989
The Lands Valuation (Scotland) Act, 1854 established a uniform valuation
of landed property throughout Scotland, with separate rolls compiled
for each burgh and county. The NAS holds copies of all valuation rolls
until 1989 (ref VR) when the Community Charge ('Poll Tax') for domestic
ratepayers was introduced and replaced the previous system. The valuation
rolls that continue after 1989 are only for businesses that pay non-domestic
rates. Again, the NAS has copies of these.
The rolls from 1854 to 1988 were collected annually and for each property
record the name and designation of the proprietor, the tenant, the
occupier and the annual rateable value. They do not list any other
residents in a property. For the early years after 1854, there is
little detail about properties rented at under 4 pounds annually unless
they were on long leases. Some rolls, particularly for the more populous
areas such as Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, can be awkward
to search. For these areas there will often be several volumes covering
each year. Worse, most valuation rolls are not indexed and an often
time-consuming search through the volumes in question will be required
before you find the entry for the property concerned.
Within each volume, the entries are arranged either by parish or (in
cities and larger towns) by electoral ward, and below that level,
by street and then by door number or house name. Consequently you
may need to find out in which parish and/or electoral ward the property
concerned was situated, before being able to identify the correct
valuation roll for the relevant year. A local archive or library may
have old Post Office directories or local gazetteers, which will often
help you to obtain this information.
A small number of the valuation rolls are consulted on microfilm at
General Register House. Most, however, are consulted in volume form
and are currently held at our off-site storage facility, Thomas Thomson
House. Before coming to see these records it is advisable to notify
us beforehand, so that the appropriate records can be got out
in advance of your arrival.
Duplicate original valuation rolls for specific areas may also be
held locally on microfilm. You should check this with local libraries
and archives.
Because of the time-consuming detective work needed, staff at the
NAS cannot search valuation rolls on behalf of correspondents.
Community charge ('poll tax') records, 1989-93
The NAS has copies of all the registers of people registered to
pay the domestic community charge (ref CCH).
Council tax valuation lists, 1993-date
The NAS has a full set of copies of these lists (ref CTA). They
are not very informative, however, since they list addresses only
and give no details of the residents or owners of property.
Other records showing landownership The records of the Inland Revenue Valuation Office provide a snapshot
of landownership in Scotland in 1911-12. Their staff surveyed every
property, recording the names of owners, tenants and occupiers, charges
on the land, valuations and other particulars. Each property's boundaries
and assessment number were marked on specially printed Ordnance Survey
maps. The field books and maps resulting from this work are held by
the NAS (refs: IRS51-88 and IRS101-133). More information on using
these records is given in Cecil Sinclair's, Tracing
Scottish Local History, pp28-9.
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