Coronavirus - ScotlandsPeople Centre Closure
In line with advice from the Scottish Government and to delay the spread of Coronavirus we have decided to close our Historical, Legal and ScotlandsPeople search rooms in Edinburgh and to halt the production of all types of certificates and official extracts until further notice. We will continue to respond to online enquiries but we may not be able to give as full or as complete answers as usual. Further information is available here.
Front door of General Register House
Thank you for your patience and understanding during this investigation work.
ScotlandsPeople Centre
The ScotlandsPeople Centre is the official government resource for family history research. It is located in central Edinburgh with search rooms in General Register House and New Register House. Staff are on hand to offer help and advice.
You can book a day search place online for £15 per day using our online booking system. See our charges for further details. To book simply select the date, your preferred search room and seat location and pay for the search place ahead of your visit. Your ticket is valid all day and you may arrive at any time.
If you are not an existing ScotlandsPeople customer you need to register at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk in order to make an online seat booking.
Once you have completed your booking you will receive a confirmation email and your ticket. You will need to present your ticket to staff when you arrive at the Centre.
The Centre is open 9:00 to 16:30 from Monday to Friday except some public holidays which for the period up to 31 January 2021 are:
- Friday 10 April 2020
- Monday 13 April 2020
- Friday 8 May 2020 (VE Day holiday)
- Monday 21 September 2020
- Friday 25 December 2020
- Monday 28 December 2020
- Friday 1 January 2021
- Monday 4 January 2021
Whilst at the Centre you are able to save the results of your research on historic records to your ScotlandsPeople account which is available on line.
Records and indexes available
You can access index-linked digital images of the following records:
- Statutory registers of births, deaths and marriages (from 1855)
- Old Parish Registers (1553-1855)
- Catholic parish registers (1703-1964)
- Census records (1841-1911)
- Coats of arms (1672-100 years ago)
- Highland and Island Emigration Society records
- Military Service Appeals Tribunal records (1916-1918)
- Soldiers' and airmen's wills (1857-1965)
- Valuation rolls (1855, 1865, 1875, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930, 1935 and 1940)
- Wills and testaments (1513-1925)
You can also search indexes and request certificates (also known as extracts) of the following:
- Statutory register of divorces (from 1 May 1984)
- Statutory register of civil partnerships (from 2005)
- Statutory register of dissolutions of a civil partnership (from 2007)
- Adopted Children's Register (from 1930) with restricted access - please ask staff for more details
Please note that credits purchased for the ScotlandsPeople website are valid at the ScotlandsPeople Centre but cannot be used to purchase day search places.
Further information
The ScotlandsPeople Centre and visit us pages on the National Records of Scotland website provide further information about:
- Fees and charges
- Locations of the buildings and search rooms
- Disabled access and facilities
- Introductory family history talks
- Group evening visits
- Hiring the Dome Seminar facility and meeting rooms in New Register House
- Shop
- Cafe
- Archivists' Garden
Local family history centres
There are several centres elsewhere in Scotland which provide access to the ScotlandsPeople Centre search system. Further information is provided on their websites:
- Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock
- Clackmannanshire Family History Centre in Alloa
- Heritage Hub in Hawick
- Highland Archives Service Family History Room in Inverness
- Family History at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow