There are some especially Scottish issues to be addressed when undertaking research. The main ones are:
    • schisms within the church following the reformation
    • naming patterns
    • the Clearances
    • clan tartans

Schisms within the church
The Established Church of Scotland has experienced a large number of schisms since the Reformation and these break away groups in turn divided into further groups. This makes locating church records very difficult and the researcher needs to be reminded that the records held at New Register House in Edinburgh relate to the Established Church of Scotland and not to these break away groups or indeed any of the more recent non-conformist churches. The problem for the researcher is the lack of organisation and record keeping. A failure to deposit many records with the National Archive adds to the problem.

Scottish parish registers differ in several ways from those found in England and Wales and the system of access to them is quite different. Scottish parish registers are known as the Old Parish Registers and have been deposited at New Register House in Edinburgh. These are the registers of the Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian church. (Anglican churches were not officially permitted in Scotland until the mid 19th century. Such churches are part of the Episcopal Church of Scotland.) There were almost 1000 parishes in Scotland but many of the old registers have not survived.

Baptismal entries are typically more detailed than the English equivalents with the mother’s maiden name given. On the other hand, there was no obligation in Scotland to use the services of the Church to marry.

Parish registers were introduced 1553 following an enactment in 1552 by the General Provincial Council for Scotland, but only 22 registers begin before 1600. Most Scottish parish registers do not start until the second part of the 18th century, and some much later.

Parish registers were usually kept by local ministers or sessions clerks and there are very few early records of burials. Some Scottish parish registers suffer from under recording of events through slipshod record keeping, and other factors also render some of them defective. The record keeping in some highland churches was notoriously casual.
With no Bishops, there are no Bishops' Transcripts and this means there are no other sources to consult if parish registers are missing or considered to be defective.

From 1662–1689 the Established Church of Scotland switched to Episcopalianism, so many Presbyterian events were not recorded, or were recorded in separate covert Presbyterian parish registers, the majority of which have apparently been lost.

Omissions were also caused by various other short-lived 18th and 19th century secessions from the Established Church. Because the church was decentralised if often meant that when a congregation broke away, they took the church building and records with them with the outcome that the records were often destroyed as they represented the old regime. If the breakaway group ever rejoined the main stream again, it was likely that the records created during the schism would also be destroyed!

Parish registers also suffered in 1783 from an attempt to tax entries as many could not afford the tax. The event would have still been conducted but to avoid the tax it would not have been recorded!

Indexes to Church of Scotland and Catholic registers are freely available at ScotlandsPeople. Locating other registers for other denominations is more difficult. The publication, Registers of the Secession Churches in Scotland by Diane Baptie may be a useful starting point.