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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 is available in the NAS search rooms and also in
good reference libraries. 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 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. The rolls run from
Whitsunday (one of the Scottish term days, usually around 25 May)
of one year to Whitsunday of the next, roughly speaking a financial
year.
Using valuation rolls for 1855-1915
The valuation rolls for 1855-56 to 1915-16 have all been digitised
and are being made available in the search rooms on the Virtual Volumes
application. You should consult the NAS online
catalogue to see if the volume you require is available
yet. If it is, the ‘access conditions’ field should state:
‘This record has been digitally imaged and will not be produced
for readers. The digital images may be seen in the NAS Search Rooms
on the 'Virtual Volumes' system.’ If the catalogue entry for
the volume you would like to consult does not have this statement
and falls into the 1855-56 to 1915-16 date range, contact
us as the original volumes will not be produced but we
may be able to arrange access for you. The valuation rolls for Undertakings
Public (ref. VR121) have not been digitised.
Also available in the search rooms is the VRs Index. This index
covers the valuation rolls for all of Scotland for these seven years:1855-56;
1865-66; 1875-76; 1885-86; 1895-96; 1905-06 and 1915-16. It can
be searched according to person, group or place (including property
type, settlement name, burgh or county). 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 the digital image of the original page in the valuation
roll.
For valuation rolls which are unindexed 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. This can often mean
a time-consuming search through the volumes in question 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.
Because of the time-consuming detective work needed, staff at the
NAS cannot search valuation rolls on behalf of correspondents.
Duplicate original valuation rolls for specific areas may also
be held locally on microfilm. You should check this with local libraries
and archives.
Using valuation rolls for 1916-1957
The digitisation of the valuation rolls for 1916-17 to 1957-58 is
currently underway. The programme of work will start with the volumes
from series ref. VR1 Airdrie Burgh and run through to those in ref.
VR123 Wigtown County (excluding ref. VR121 Undertakings Public). During
digitisation, records will be unavailable for consultation until they
are made available as digital images in the search rooms. As a rough
guide the records will be withdrawn from access in the following months:
Reference |
Place |
Month when withdrawn from access |
VR1 - VR46 |
Airdrie Burgh - Kilmarnock
Burgh |
April 2009 |
VR47 - VR80 |
Kilrenny Burgh - Stirling
Burgh |
May 2009 |
VR81 - VR90 |
Stranraer Burgh - Ayr County |
June 2009 |
VR91 - VR98 |
Banff County - Dundee Burgh |
July 2009 |
VR99 |
East Lothian County |
August 2009 |
VR100 |
Edinburgh Burgh |
September 2009 |
VR101
|
Fife County |
October 2009 |
VR102 |
Glasgow Burgh |
November 2009 |
VR102 |
Glasgow Burgh |
December 2009 |
VR103 - VR106 |
Inverness County - Kirkcudbright
County |
January 2010 |
VR107 |
Lanark County |
February 2010 |
VR108 - VR112 |
Midlothian County - Peebles
County |
March 2010 |
VR113 - VR122 |
Moray County - Wigtown County |
April 2010 |
Once available as digital images, the NAS online catalogue entry
for each volume in will read in the ‘access conditions’
field: ‘This record has been digitally imaged and will not
be produced for readers. The digital images may be seen in the NAS
search rooms on the 'Virtual Volumes' system.’ If the catalogue
entry for the volume you would like to consult does not have this
statement, falls into the 1916-17 to 1957-58 date range and appears
from the above table to have been withdrawn from access, contact
us. All of the valuation rolls which were consulted on
microfilm before 2008 have been digitised regardless of their covering
dates.
An index to the valuation rolls for 1925-26, 1935-36, 1945-46 and
1955-56 is being created and is likely to become available during
2010. See above for advice on searching the valuation rolls.
Using valuation rolls for 1958 onwards
With the exception of valuation rolls which were on microfilm and
were converted to digital images, the valuation rolls for 1958 onwards 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 produced in advance of your arrival.
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 (NAS ref. IRS51-88 and IRS101-133). More information on using
these records is given in Cecil Sinclair's, ‘Tracing Scottish
Local History’, pp28-9.
The National Archives of Scotland
Crown Copyright 2009
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