Hello Stu et al, We do seem to have quite a few people interested in the Garrioch surname. You are quite right, the parish of Holm & Paplay is right next to Kirkwall. Kirkwall is where my name Kelday is from, from my grandfather Jonathan Garrioch Kelday, way back to 1600 (ish). Like many Orcadians and other Scots, my grandfather and his brother left for Canada, and I have relatives on Vancouver Island. However I live in the UK in North Yorkshire, so Edinburgh and the records office is only a 3 hour drive from here. If you, Karen, and Robert agree we could carry on the correspondence via our e-mail addresses, if that is what is normally done, as I am planning a visit to Edinburgh in the spring and if I have names and dates then maybe we can kill at least 4 birds with one stone as it were. Regards John Kelday