Genealogy Searches

The Church is situated in the Kirkyard which has been the burial ground for the Parish of Edinburgh from the time the land was gifted to the City in 1562 until it was closed to new burials, on health grounds, in the late 1860s. In the Churchyard are buried not only famous Edinburgh and Scottish citizens but thousands of humble Edinburgh folks.

Although the graveyard is owned by the City Council and not the Church we nevertheless get many enquiries about people buried here. A group of Church members interested in genealogy undertake this research on behalf of the Society of Friends of Greyfriars. As the records for many periods are incomplete we may not be successful but can say that about 80% of enquiries result in a satisfactory result.

On enquiring about any information, we will ask you to fill in a form giving as much information as you can about the person for whom you are searching together with a search fee of £15 to the funds of the Society of Friends of Greyfriars.