New Historical Records Go Online

29 August 2012

Historical documents, including Ordnance Survey (OS) Name Books and Scotland’s Servant and Hearth Tax rolls dating back some 300 years, are now available online on the ScotlandsPlaces website. The records are among new additions to a treasure trove of historical information held on the site, which brings together records from three of Scotland’s national collections: RCAHMS, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) and the National Library of Scotland (NLS).

The Hearth Tax rolls date from 1691 to 1695, and represent the first comprehensive survey of all towns, villages and other inhabited places in Scotland. The Servant Tax rolls date from 1777 to 1798 as a tax on wealthy households who employed non-essential servants like butlers and coachmen. OS Name Books for Stirlingshire, Nairnshire, Inverness-shire, Clackmannanshire, Buteshire, Berwickshire and Ayrshire have also been digitised – with the remaining counties to be added by 2013. The Name Books outline all of the place names within their counties during the latter half of the nineteenth century and include variant spellings, details of where places are situated, descriptive remarks and general observations, as well as references to corresponding OS sheet maps. These specific records can now be accessed as a part of a subscription service. At the same time, new free-to-access materials made available online include 25,000 Second and later edition OS maps – made up of 7,486 6-inch maps dated 1892-1960, and 17,466 25-inch maps dated 1892-1949 – and the place name indexes for Scottish counties, which list every place name found on the First edition OS Maps.

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, said, ‘This data gives us an insight into Scotland's history dating back 300 years. The result of an innovative collaboration between RCAHMS, National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, this project provides rich historical detail about our buildings, our communities and our people. Viewed together, this data provides a fascinating picture of Scotland's past.’

For more information on the new material and the subscription package, visit ScotlandsPlaces.