‘Lifting the Lid’ – 400 years of food and drink in Scotland

‘Lifting the Lid,’ the National Library of Scotland’s touring display, opens at Ayr’s Carnegie Library on Monday 11 June 2018. This free display tells the story of food and drink in Scotland. Discover how the introduction of new ingredients and methods of cooking have changed and developed our tastes over the years. Scotland has a […]

Rab Houston: Who are the Scots like?

Saturday 26 November, 6pm at Ayr’s Carnegie Library Join us as we celebrate Book Week Scotland with a visit from Professor of Modern History at the University of St Andrews, Rab Houston. Rab will be talking about how an independent Scottish nation emerged in the Middle Ages, how it was irrevocably altered by Reformation, links with […]

The 1895 Valuation Rolls are now live on the ScotlandsPeople website

We are delighted to announce that the Valuation Rolls (VRs) in Scotland for 1895 have just been added to the ScotlandsPeople website.   The new records, comprising 2,095,707 indexed names and 75,565 digital images, cover every kind of building, structure or dwelling that was assessed in 1895 as having a rateable value, and provide a fascinating […]

Some Russian Connections – and a trip to China

St Andrew’s Day on 30 November is significant for Russia as well as for Scotland, as St Andrew is also that country’s patron saint. Here are a few of the connections which link South Ayrshire and Imperial Russia. Surgeon Thomas Garvine, the son of an Ayr merchant, was one of many Scots who entered the […]