Leak causes damag eto documents at records office

● Panic at National Records of Scotland as torrential rain leaks through dome

A collection of Scotland’s most precious and irreplaceable historical records have been damaged after torrents of rain leaked in through a dome which has needed repair work.

The damage to a host of documents, including marriage and death certificates dating from 1800 occurred at the National Records of Scotland on Princes Street in Edinburgh, following hours of torrential rain and thunder storms that swept through large parts of Scotland last week.

Former employees said the dome, at the back of the building, had been leaking for many years but despite it being reported on many occasions by many staff it was not fixed.

Some of Scotland’s precious and irreplaceable historical records have been damaged after torrents of rain leaked in through a dome which has needed repair work for a number of years.

The damage to a host of documents, including marriage and death certificates dating from 1800 occurred last Tuesday night at the National Records of Scotland (NRS) on Princes Street, following hours of torrential rain and thunder storms swept large parts of Scotland.

Former employees said the dome, at the back of the building, had been leaking for many years but despite it being reported on many occasions by many staff it was not fixed.

Checks carried out since the flood damage have revealed that reports of the leaks had not been forwarded to the relevant department.

It is understood the problem was discovered by the Register of Scotland and staff last Wednesday morning when they turned up for work.

The office went in to “emergency” mode as more leaks had developed.

Staff then spent the rest of the day moving heritage documents from ‘high risk’ areas to safe locations, but it is believed a number of records have been soaked to such an extent they may not be able to be salvaged.

Last Friday civil servants were emailed asap lea went out for volunteers to give their telephone numbers so that they could be contacted at short notice to come in and help safeguard documents if there was more rain at the weekend.

The Met Office issued weather warnings for thunderstorms and heavy rain from last Friday into early this week for large parts of Scotland.

The official “be aware” warning was in place from 7pm last Friday until 10am the following day. In a statement the NRS admitted some damage had been done, water had got into the building and sometimes it relied on staff volunteers.

A spokeswoman at NRS said: “A small number of marriage, death, and still birth records from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century were slightly affected by water.

“There was no loss of information as we have robust procedures in place for dealing with incidents which have the potential to affect our records and documents.

“These procedures, which include a team of volunteer staff being on stand-by to respond if necessary, were implemented. All records held in New Register House have been digitised and where open to public access, can be accessed online via our Scotlandspeople website.”

NRS holds records spanning the 12th to the 21st centuries.

While it is the official repository for a host of public and legal records, such as births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships, divorces and adoptions, it also keeps many local and private archives.

In 1854 an Act of Parliament decreed a General Registry be established ‘to provide for the better registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland.’

Previously an Act of the Privy Council said parish registers of baptisms, burials and marriages should be kept by every minister in Scotland.