Search Scotland, Parish Deaths & Burials 1564-2017

The detail contained in these records can vary (particularly by parish and era), but you will usually find the following information:

• Full names (forename and surname)
• Age and year of birth
• Residence
• Occupation
• Date and year of death
• Next of kin
• Cause of death
• Date and year of burial
• Place and type of burial
• denomination
• additional information and notes

The Scottish national parish collection was compiled from a variety of different sources, from a number of organisations including:

• The Scottish Genealogy Society
• Dundee Leisure & Culture
• Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society
• Fife Family History Society
• The Highland Family History Society
• Dumfries & Galloway Family History Society
• Renfrewshire Family History Society
• Lothians Family History Society
• Lanarkshire Family History Society
• West Lothian Family History Society
• Scottish Indexes

It contains transcriptions of the original surviving Church of Scotland OPR (Old Parish Registers) material from across the country, including later records that have never been seen before online. It is supplemented by further new records from other faiths, including the Scottish Episcopal Church, Free Church of Scotland, United Free Church, and more.

This collection also contains details of records not found in regular parish registers.

Mortcloths

A mortcloth was a form of cloth draped over a body or coffin at a funeral ceremony. These were hired for the event and money was paid to the Kirk Sessions for the rental fee, with the money used to pay for poor relief. For those who were too poor to be found in burial records, or for areas where core parish registers do not survive, this may be the only place to discover the names and burial dates of potential ancestors.

The burial bell

There were those too poor to afford even a funeral in some parts of Scotland, and for these people the church could arrange to ring the church bell on behalf of the deceased for a smaller fee. A number of these accounts have also been transcribed and added to this collection to give the best possible chance of finding the names of those missing from a Scottish family tree.