Before you visitMany records are not stored in the centre
of Edinburgh and we strongly advise you to contact us in advance if you have any
doubts about where records are held.
For preservation reasons, records will not be transferred between buildings except
to facilitate disabled users. It is possible that your research will necessitate
visits to both buildings. If you have never visited the NAS search rooms before
please consult our preparing to
visit section and how
to find us. The NAS provides disabled
access to its public search rooms, but access is simplest at General Register
House, where there are wheelchair lifts.
A project to digitise the valuation rolls (NAS ref. VR) is underway which means that some volumes will be removed from public access for a short time. For more details go to the guide to valuation rolls.
Opening hours
Some search room services will be affected by industrial action taking place on Wednesday 24 March.
The
NAS search rooms are open Monday to Friday 09:00-16:45.
The latest time for
ordering records is 16:00.
The latest time for ordering copies of records
is 16:00.
No appointment is necessary except to consult adoption records. We do not operate an advance seat booking facility and seats are filled on a first come, first served basis. Note
that some material is outstored and requires 24 hours notice for production
in the search room. Please contact
us in advance if you need any special advice.
Public holidays 2010- 11
- Good Friday: 2 April 2010
- Easter Monday: 5 April 2010
- May Holiday: Monday 3 May 2010
- Edinburgh Autumn Holiday: Monday 20 September 2010
- Christmas Holidays: Monday 27 December 2010 - Tuesday 28 December 2010
- New Year Holidays: Monday 3 January 2011 - Tuesday 4 January 2011
StocktakingThe
NAS search rooms no longer close for annual stocktaking.
Which search
room should I go to?
The following is a rough guide to the division of records between
General Register House and West Register House to help you decide
which one you should visit.
General Register House
General Register House (GRH) can be found at the east end of Princes
Street in Edinburgh's city centre. Two search rooms are housed there:
the Historical Search Room and the Legal Search Room. The Historical
Search Room is used for researching family, local, national and
international history. The Legal Search Room is used for certain
types of legal and commercial research, primarily using the public
registers and adoption records. In these search rooms you can consult
early government records, church records, estate and political papers,
and other private collections, and records relating to property.
The main categories of records are listed below:
Historical Search Room
- records of the pre-1707
Scottish Government and Parliament; Privy Council; Registers of the Great and
Privy Seal
- exchequer records
- church records: records of the established
Church of Scotland, many Free Church records, the records of various dissenting
('seceding') congregations, and the records of some other churches, including
copies of the surviving records of baptisms, marriages and burials for Roman Catholics.
Please note that for Church of Scotland baptisms, marriages and burials you should
go to the General Register Office for Scotland
- legal registers: registers
of deeds and sasines; services of heirs
- adoption records
- court
records: early Court of Session, High Court of Justiciary (to 1799) records; commissary
court records and sheriff court testaments
- burgh records; valuation rolls
- family,
legal and estate papers; records of societies and institutions
Legal
Search Room - public registers being consulted
for legal or commercial purposes
- adoption records
Please read
the Legal Search Room page.
West Register House
West Register
House (WRH) is situated in Charlotte Square, off the west end of Princes Street.
The search room here is known as the West Search Room, where you can consult court
and government records and maps and plans. Below is an outline of the main classes
of records available at West Register House: - modern government files:
records of the Scottish Office and Scottish Government
- court records: Court
of Session; High Court of Justiciary (after 1800); sheriff court records (excluding
wills); divorces (to 1983)
- records of the former nationalised industries
and transport: rail and canal systems, coal, gas, electricity and steel industries
- business
records
- maps and plans
How to find us
See the How to find us page for maps showing the locations of our buildings.
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