Area Field
This option allows you to narrow your search by a county or burgh (for an explanation of these see our page on Counties and Burghs).
If you have no idea where a person lived you could select 'All records', but if you are searching using a very common surname this search will bring back too many results and you will be asked to narrow your search.
If you know which parish your ancestor lived in but not the burgh or county select 'All records' but then use the parish option to narrow your search, this will then result in all entries for that parish whether it existed in as part of burgh or county.
If you select a burgh or county option it will reduce the number of results returned. If you narrow your search by a burgh or county then your search will only bring back results for entries in that burgh or county.
Ross and Cromarty were separate counties until 1889 but the way they are treated in the valuation rolls is complex. There is no separate valuation roll for Cromarty County in 1855: it is included with Ross County. From 1865-1885 Ross County and Cromarty County each produced a separate valuation roll. From 1895 Ross and Cromarty was a unified county and produced a single county valuation roll.
Parish Field
Select a specific parish to refine your search further. Alternatively, select up to five parishes at one time by holding down the control (Ctrl) key and clicking them.
If you know which parish your ancestor lived in but are not sure whether it was in a particular county or burgh, select 'All records' in the area field, then narrow your search by the particular parish in this field. This will return all entries matching your search criteria for that parish in all counties and burghs it appears.
If you select a parish from this drop down menu after selecting a particular Burgh or County in the 'Area' field, your page of results will be limited to parishes that appear in that Burgh or County.
For example, if you search for 'John Smith' in Kirkcaldy and Dysart parish, it will return all entries matching this search criteria from Kirkcaldy Burgh, Dysart Burgh and Fife County.
Place Name Spellings
The spelling of place names varies throughout the valuation rolls but where possible we have standardised them.
