News: Valuation rolls to be digitised

The National Archives of Scotland (NAS) are pleased to announce the commencement of a project to digitise and index valuation rolls (NAS ref. VR). The valuation rolls, popularly known as VRs, are frequently used in our search rooms, in particular by family historians.

The VRs list properties across Scotland, their proprietors, tenants and occupiers and their valuation. They were created annually, according to the financial year, from April 1855 and are grouped according to burgh or county. They are often used by family historians particularly those trying to trace individuals between the decennial censuses. For this reason, the NAS have decided to create digital images of all the valuation rolls from the financial year 1855-56 to 1915-16 and to index the years in that period which are halfway between censuses ie 1855-56, 1865-66, 1875-76, 1885-1886, 1895-1896, 1905-06 and 1915-1916.