Dear Anne, Can you help please? I have not heard of Valuation Rolls before. What are they and what information is held in them? Best regards Peter Ferguson ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Burgess" <anne.burgess@btinternet.com> To: <MORAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 2:59 AM Subject: Re: [MORAY] Burnside of Lethen, Auldearn, 1906-1910 >> With the death of James Mackintosh (ggg grandfather) in 1902 at the age >> of >> 97, the descendants here in Western Canada had assumed that there was no >> family left living at Brunside of Lethen, Auldearn. The family had lived >> there from at least the 1841 through the 1901 census. >> However, we just made a recent discovery of old postcards (unsigned, cut >> dated 1906 to 1908) from family (?) at that address. >> Does anyone know of any way to check as to who was living at that address >> during that period? > > The Valuation Roll will record the name of the head of the household for > each year at that time. However I don't know where the Nairn Valuation > Rolls might be. I would start by asking the genealogy section of Inverness > Library genealogy@highland.gov.uk > > HTH > > Anne > > > ==== MORAY Mailing List ==== > Don't forget that if you delete a message, you can always visit the > archives of this list http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/MORAY/. The > archives are also worth looking at, whether you be a new or established > lister. > > ============================== > New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors > at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: > http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 >

> I have not heard of Valuation Rolls before. What are they and what > information is held in them? Valuation Rolls were compiled regularly in order to assess how much people should pay in rates, which were the principal means of raising the funds for local authorities (cities, counties and burghs). The valuation rolls used to list every building, and every subdivision of the buildings, with the name of the proprietor, tenant and occupier, and the 'rateable value'. So for example you might look up a shepherd's cottage, and find that it was owned by the Earl of Seafield, that the tenant was say James Leslie and the occupier John Smith. This tells you that James Leslie rented the cottage, presumably as part of a farm, from the Earl of Seafield, and that the cottage was used by his employee or dependant John Smith. The VRs were compiled afresh every year, so they are a means of tracking where people lived over a period of time. They don't tell you who else lived in the dwelling, or what their occupations were. They are also a pointer the the landowner, which helps because you then know which estate records you want to look for. They aren't indexed as a rule, and are arranged by address within parishes or burghs, so you do need to know where the house you are interested in was, or be prepared for a long search. They are a bit patchy until the 19th century, but from the mid 19th century until the late 20th century you should be able, in theory, to get hold of an unbroken set of VRs for all of the UK. To find them, you need to know which modern local authority covers the area you are interested in, because in general the VRS are likely to be in teh archives of the local authority which now deals with most of the old county or burgh to which they refer. Unfortunately in the late 20th (I forget the exact year but it was in the 1980s) the rating system was abolished and replaced by the short-lived and unpopular community charge, which in turn was replaced by 'council tax' and the registers kept for these purposes are not nearly as informative. HTH Anne