The Kirk Sessions are online!

[TressiliansStone]

And they're amazing! So much in there.

www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/virtual-volumes

I'm picking my way through the doings of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh in the 1820s and 30s. In addition to lots of rebuking for fornication, there's an inordinate amount about burial grounds: expansion to cater to the growing city, and security of...

The phrase "a body was extracted" occurs, all casual like, at frequent intervals.

Incredibly, there is a census of St Cuthbert's parish (much of the city of Edinburgh, though not Canongate) "by appointment of the Kirk Session of the said Parish, the 28th Decr 1790."

Only the head of household is named. Everyone else is just numbered under Parents, Children, Lodgers and Servants, each divided into male and female. It's enough info to be useful, though.

Edinburgh - St Cuthbert's kirk session, List of inhabitants (1790), CH2/718/211