It should also give the names and occupations of their parents. They also provide useful and interesting information such as name, age, occupation, relation to head, and place of birth for every person staying at the address on the night the census was carried out. These constitute an enormous fund of information for the seeker of family history. The most recent census returns open to the public are those for 1891. Before 1855 all records were grouped according to parish - there are just over 900 Scottish parishes in total.
Records vary greatly from one parish to another in availability, quality and legibility.
Nevertheless, Old Parish Registers constitute the main source of information prior to the mid-19th century.