Scotland’s People

Ancestry is something very close to the heart of a lot of our visitors and a major reason that many people visit Scotland. This is why it is one of the five pillars of Homecoming 2014.

To prepare Historic Scotland staff for an influx of enquiries, Iain Ferguson from Scotland’s People has been delivering a series of seminars so that our teams can advise visitors on how to research their Scottish Ancestry and maybe even start compiling their own family tree.

Scotland’s People has all the key Scottish records from birth, marriage and death records, to wills, census records, Coats of Arms and valuation rolls. The main National Records Building in Edinburgh Princes Street is a great place to start. A full or part day at the centre costs just £15 and gives a great introduction to the process as well as access to researchers that can help with  individual enquiries. There are additional family centres located at Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Hawick and Inverness.

For those that can’t make it along to one of the above centres, you can also do your research online.  Registration is free and you can search the indexes for the Coats of Arms and wills and testament records for no charge. To view the other records you need to purchase credits but these are very reasonably priced.

So, if you are interested in finding out more about your Scottish roots, now’s the time to start.

For more information about ScotlandsPeople and how to book a search place at the Centre in Edinburgh visit www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Historic Scotland has also produced a brochure that features some of the major Scottish Clans and properties in our portfolio relating to them.  You can view or download our Family Footsteps brochure from the Historic Scotland website.