How can school board minutes help me trace the title to a school building?

if these survive for the parish concerned back to 1873, the opening pages usually list the schools being taken over by the Board and their status beforehand (for example, if the school was run by a church), and sometimes the owner of the property). Any subsequent dispositions in favour of the School Board (for example, land for a playground or an extension to the school) are often engrossed in the minutes. In searches of this kind, it is quite common to find that no title was drawn up, i.e. that neither the owner of the property on which the school building stood nor the school board went to the trouble of drawing up or registering a title deed. In other cases, where a formal conveyance was made, the title deed may include restrictions as to the use, such as a reversion to the previous owner if the building is no longer required for educational purposes.

What is a scroll minute book?

a scroll minute book is a book of minutes in rough draft, to be written up later for the official version. Occasionally both the scroll and official minutes survive for corporate bodies (e.g. kirk sessions), and slight discrepancies can be found between them.

Do parochial board/parish council minutes contain information about individual paupers?

they contain a brief record of new applications brought to the board by the inspector of the poor for each parish. Typically, these contain the name of the applicant, the reason for the application (e.g. old age, illness, injury at work) and the decision of the parochial board. In some cases, there will be additional information, such as the age and residence of the individual. It is rare to find detailed information on the family of the individual claimant. However, if poor relief applications do not survive for that parish, then the minute books of the board/council may be the only record of a pauper’s application.

What does the word ‘sederunt’ mean?

‘Sederunt’ is a Latin word, meaning ‘there sat down’, i.e. when a record of a meeting begins ‘sederunt’ followed by a list of names, it indicates that those named sat down to hold a meeting or to form a court.