Please read the Conditions of Use before registering. To register for Canmore, please provide the details asked for (items marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory). The information that we collect about you will be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. For further details, see the RCAHMS Privacy Statement.

The Username and Password can be anything you choose, although these must both be between 5-10 characters long, and can include letters and numbers.

If you try to submit a Username or Password that is less than 5 or more than 10 characters long, an error message will appear and your registration will be unsuccessful.

If you try to choose a Username or Password that is already in use, an error message will appear and your registration will be unsuccessful.

If at any point, you forget your Username or Password, you can simply re-register, remembering that both your Username and Password will have to be different from your original choice.

Each time you use Canmore, you will have to log in with your Username and Password.

TIPS FOR SEARCHING:
· DO NOT fill in every field - to begin with, try filling in the NAME field alone
· If the number of search results is high, narrow the search by using the COUNCIL, REGION or PARISH pick lists
· If your search is unsuccessful, try other spellings and experiment with different methods of query
· Please remember that computerisation is on-going and information for some areas is not yet available
· Your search is NOT case-sensitive.

Name of site or building:
Enter a name or an address of the place of interest. When entering an address, use the format:
name of city/town/village, number and street address, name of property.
for example: or

Type of site or building:
Enter a type or class of the place of interest.
for example: or

OS 1:10000 mapsheet:
Familiarity with Ordnance Survey mapsheets is essential to use this box.
for example: or

NMRS site number:
This is the unique identifier for each site on an OS 1:10000 mapsheet. Enter information into this box only if you have entered an OS mapsheet and know the NMRS running number.
for example: or

Council:
Select the Council from the pick list.
for example: EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE or SCOTTISH BORDERS, THE

Former Region:
Select the Former Region from the pick list.
for example: DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY or ORKNEY ISLANDS AREA

Parish:
Select the Parish from the pick list.
for example: RUTHERGLEN or CARDROSS (WEST DUMBARTONSHIRE)

Maritime sites can be queried by using the parish pick list to narrow down the search.
for example: MARITIME - SHETLAND ISLANDS or MARITIME - HIGHLAND

Collection:
This allows a search for drawings, photographs or items from named collections. These may be collections compiled by or gathered by an individual or an organisation. Select the name of a collection from the pick list on the right.
for example: Northern Lighthouse Board or Dick Peddie and McKay

*Year:
This field should only be used in conjunction with the Collection field above. When searching for the RCAHMS Aerial Photography collection, if a site has been photographed in different years, the earliest date indicates when the site was first recorded by RCAHMS. Enter a year in the four digit format:
for example: or

Keywords:
This field allows searches to be made of all textual information connected with a site, apart from the NAME field. Please note that searches cannot be made by year or period.
Examples: Motte Bailey -- will find all records with Motte and Bailey together
Motte and Bailey -- will find all records with Motte and Bailey but not necessarily together
Motte or Bailey -- will find all records with Motte or Bailey
for example: or

Order your results by:
This determines how the results are displayed, either by mapsheet and site number or alphabetically by name.
for example: Map Sheet or NMRS Name

When you have filled in the desired fields, click on this button to run the query.

Clicking on this button will clear all the fields.

Sites resulting from your search are displayed in a table. A maximum of 500 sites will be displayed at one time, 20 sites per page. Click on the hyperlinks on the left to find out full details for each site, or use the links on the right to find out about the collection items that we hold for each site.

Clicking on the SITEMAP button produces a new window giving a location map of the selected site or building.

Clicking on the COLLECTION ESSAY hyperlink at the top of the results table gives the background to that particular collection, where available.

Clicking on the ARCHIVE SUFFIXES hyperlink at the top of the results table gives details of the most common photographic suffixes used which identify the format of each item.

Canmore has recently been supplemented with over 60,000 digital images allowing direct access to views of NMRS collection items for the first time. These images constitute a small fraction of the total number of items in our archive collections, and new images will be added to the database as they are digitised.

To view images, carry out a search on Canmore using the procedures detailed above. On the RESULTS PAGE, the Collection items for each site are detailed on the right-hand side of the screen. If images have already been digitised for a site, a link to IMAGES will be included. Clicking on this link produces a full list of the digitised images for that site; click on each archive item to find out more information and if the image is available, it will appear as a thumbnail. The thumbnail can be clicked for a larger image at a better resolution.

PLEASE NOTE that not all of the digitised images listed are available on-screen, due to copyright restrictions. We are in the process of making more images viewable, on a daily basis.

Canmore enables our database to be searched using a map interface. To use the Canmore mapping facility, follow the links from the Canmore search page. The Canmore map screen includes a detailed Help section.

Added functionality means that you can now zoom to Population Centres, Administrative Areas, Postcodes and National Grid References, using the picklists provided.

It is worth noting that information is added to the database on a daily basis. If your search has been unsuccessful, double-check with us in case we do hold information that has not yet been entered. And if your Canmore search has been successful, we encourage users to follow up their enquiries.

Visit the NMRS library: RCAHMS, John Sinclair House, 16 Bernard Terrace, Edinburgh EH8 9NX
Phone us: +44 (0)131 662 1456
Fax us: +44 (0)131 662 1499
Email us: info@rcahms.gov.uk
Or use our online Enquiry Form