Tourism

HISTORY & HERITAGE

Searching for your roots?

If this is something you've always wanted to do, then help is at hand. Whether you're descended from William Wallace or from Robert Burns, if you believe that you have Scottish ancestors, and that they could be from the East Ayrshire area, we have the means to help you trace your family history. 

Experienced East Ayrshire Council staff in our libraries in Kilmarnock and Cumnock, as well as allowing access to records, can give you valuable help and advice you need to make a start. We also have experienced Registrars who keep records locally dating from 1855. Many of these staff live in the communities they serve and can sometimes provide local knowledge to aid your search.

Genealogical Information

The Dick Institute in Kilmarnock and the Baird Institute in Cumnock have extensive resources on family history and local history, and the East Ayrshire Council staff there are able to offer assistance with genealogical and other research.

For further information please see our Library pages here

or contact:

Dick Institute

Baird Institute

Searching Local Records

A local Registrar will allow you to look at the birth, death and marriage registers, dating from 1855 held locally and take information from them.

This general search allows you to search the indexes only but with the permission of the Registrar, you can search over any numbers of years for any number of entries.

You are allowed to take notes, in pencil, from the records you are interested in. You cannot photocopy any of these records or remove them from the office.

There is a standard charge for this service for a time period of up to 2 hours.

Please note that each Registration District has its own Registrar and its own records. There are over 300 Registrations Districts in Scotland. Each office has a map showing the boundaries of their Registration District.

For further information please see our Registration pages here

Scottish Records

Records of all births, deaths and marriages recorded since records began (including Parish records) are held centrally Edinburgh. These records are available to the public to search under supervision and there is a charge for this service.

You do not need an appointment to search these records, however, because space is limited and there is a high demand, it is advisable to book in advance to ensure that you can access information on the day you require.

For further information contact :

New Register House, Edinburgh.
Telephone 0131 334 0380.