Aileen wrote here...... > Could someone tell me what information/records are > located in Stirling and where they would be if someone > were to visit that area in person? Honest, the best place to access the records is near your own home town. Use the Family History Centre, the large Public Library and the Post Office (snail mail vendor). But do go to Scotland! but keep away from cemeteries and Record Offices until you have assurance that your <specific> items will be found, real fast. Enjoy the vacation! it is wonderful to walk the ancestral paths, visit the cottages, paddle in the burn. The specific places > would be Kippen, Drymen and Falkirk and time frame is > for early to mid 1850's. Kippen: Stirling Record Office, 1 Viewfield Place, STIRLING FK8 1NQ Drymen: I don't know Falkirk: Record Office, Old Burgh Buildings, Newmarket St, Falkirk. Go see the Forth and Clyde canal, the waterway between Edinburgh and Glasgow is now being restored. The Record Office staff can direct you, to a local FH Society, and the local Library where you could ask to see the Local Studies Librarian. Kippen registers date from 1700 but there are no OPR burials and no MIs Drymen registers date from 1672, and there are OPR burials for 1729- 1784 Falkirk registers date from 1593, and there are OPR burials for 1817- 1844. PLUS! there are United Presbyterian OPRs for births, marriages 1822- 1854 in Edinburgh, Reg General has these, NOT available in New Register House. > Does anyone know what condition the headstones are in > at the cemeteries? Deteriorated, I guess. Here are my thoughts after many such visits. Cemetery searching is often a miserable experience. Most burials did not get marked by headstones. Most tourists fail to enquire in advance as to the Row number/ lair number, and finish up with a notebook that is surname based, but irrelevant to what individuals they sought. Cemeteries are usually managed by the local County/ Region authority, not the Church. Burials Registers are liable to be held in the local government offices, so start there before browsing the cemetery. A layout map is often available gratis, and sometimes a computer printout of the specific details of your family members burials there. Cheerio....... ALISTAIR M. CAMERON, A.A.G.R.A. also known as ALEC acameron@hinet.net.au **My Ancestral File No. is TO4M-WJ**