Privacy & cookies.

When the contact form is available, it asks for your name, email address, subject and message. We use these details and any subsequent correspondence to understand and answer your enquiry. These fields are needed to send the form and receive a reply; providing them is your choice, not a legal obligation.

The form accepts messages only when online enquiries are enabled. While it displays the unavailable notice, it cannot send an enquiry and does not load Google reCAPTCHA. If you contact us through a social platform instead, we receive the message and the profile information that platform makes available.

Please share only what is relevant. We do not need identity documents, financial information, private family records or sensitive details about living relatives. The archive explores historical families and notable characters, rather than providing personal genealogy research.

Hosting and security services receive technical information needed to deliver pages and protect the website. This can include your IP address, browser information, the page requested, request time and error details. Such information may be recorded in service or security logs.

The heritage website does not currently include visitor analytics, advertising pixels or a visitor profiling system. Archive filters and related-story selections do not create a personal browsing profile or save your reading history in browser storage. The RSS feed does not require you to register with us; your chosen feed reader handles its own account and usage information.

Under UK data protection law, we need a lawful reason to use personal information. The reason depends on what we are doing:

• Answering messages and considering contributions: our legitimate interests in running the heritage project, responding to enquiries and keeping useful correspondence, balanced against your privacy and reasonable expectations.
• Discussing a service you have requested: taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, where that applies. Actual tour bookings are handled through the tours website.
• Keeping the site secure and working: our legitimate interests in preventing abuse, diagnosing faults and maintaining access.
• Optional embedded services: consent, given by your choice to load a film player or, when available, the Google security check after seeing the information about that service.
• Meeting legal duties: complying with applicable obligations, including handling data-protection requests.

Sending an enquiry does not sign you up for marketing. We do not sell your enquiry details or make decisions about you with legal or similarly significant effects solely through automated processing. Spam checks can reject a submission; another contact route is provided if you need help.

Enquiries are handled by the people helping run Discover Scottish Borders who need the information to respond. Once the contact form is activated, Google services will check submissions for spam and deliver messages to the project’s chosen private email recipients. Recipient addresses are kept out of public pages and form responses.

The website uses Sites hosting with Cloudflare infrastructure. Hosting providers process connection and security information to operate their services. If a hosting sign-in is required, that provider also handles access under its own privacy information. See OpenAI’s privacy policy and Cloudflare’s privacy policy.

Information may also be shared where required by law or where necessary and lawful to deal with a legal claim. We do not publish private enquiries as visitor comments.

Cookies and similar technologies can store or read information on your device. Essential hosting or security functions may use these technologies. We have not added advertising or analytics cookies to the heritage website.

Film pages initially show a choice to load the player. YouTube is not contacted by that player until you select Load film. This allows Google/YouTube to receive information such as your IP address, browser details and the site you are viewing, and to use cookies or similar storage for its embedded service.

We use YouTube’s privacy-enhanced player. This limits some personalisation; it does not make playback anonymous or mean that Google receives no information. Google’s privacy policy explains its use of information.

Your loading choice applies to that player on the current page and is not saved as a site-wide preference. Use Unload film beneath the player to remove it and stop further requests from it, or leave the page. This does not erase information already received by Google. You can also clear existing cookies and site data in your browser. The written story remains available without loading the film.

A small number of archive films are hosted by Facebook. These players load only when you choose Load film. Loading a player allows Facebook to receive connection and device information and use cookies or similar storage. You can leave it unloaded and read the accompanying story, or use Unload film to remove the player.

See Facebook’s privacy policy for its handling of that information.

When online enquiries are enabled, the form uses Google reCAPTCHA to help distinguish visitors from automated spam. It loads only when you choose Load security check. Google receives connection, device and interaction information and may set its _GRECAPTCHA security cookie or use other storage described in its policies.

You can use the alternative contact route instead. Once loaded, the form provides a link to turn the check off by reloading the contact page; this also clears unsent form text. Google’s privacy policy and terms of service apply to its service.

Submitting the form sends its fields for verification and email delivery. The website does not create a separate contact database or spreadsheet. A short-lived reference is used to reduce duplicate delivery after a retry; the prepared delivery service keeps that reference for up to ten minutes.

Our social buttons are links, rather than embedded social feeds. Following a link to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or another service takes you to that service, which applies its own privacy and cookie rules. If you message us there, the platform also processes that conversation. External archives and visitor websites are responsible for the information they collect on their own pages.

Hosting, Google and social services operate internationally, so information may be processed outside the United Kingdom, including in the United States. The location depends on the service and account being used; we do not promise that all processing stays in the UK.

Cloudflare’s published policy describes reliance on the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework for covered US transfers, with contractual safeguards for other relevant transfers. OpenAI’s policy describes adequacy arrangements and standard contractual clauses with the UK addendum. Google explains its international transfer arrangements in its privacy information.

These are the providers’ stated arrangements, rather than a claim that every service uses the same safeguard. Contact us for information about the arrangements relevant to your enquiry or to request details of applicable safeguards.

Enquiry correspondence is kept for as long as needed to answer the message, deal with reasonable follow-up and resolve the matter. Once those purposes have ended, we delete it unless a continuing legal or practical reason justifies keeping it. The nature of the enquiry, an ongoing collaboration, an unresolved complaint or a legal requirement may affect that decision.

If you agree to contribute material to the archive, permission and credit records may need to be kept while that material is used, and afterwards where needed to demonstrate the agreed rights. Published historical material can remain in the archive for longer than the correspondence accompanying it.

Hosting logs and provider-held records follow the relevant service’s retention arrangements. Email and backup settings also affect when deleted correspondence is fully removed. You can ask us about the information relating to you; we will explain any reason it needs to be retained.

The archive may include credited contributors, public historical sources and memories you have agreed to share. A private message is not automatically permission to publish it. We will discuss intended use and attribution before publishing a contribution from an enquiry.

Although much of the archive concerns people from the past, material can also affect living people. If an article, image or film raises a concern about your own personal information, contact us with the page link and explanation so we can review accuracy, context and the appropriate response.

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask for access to your personal information, correction, deletion, restriction of its use or a portable copy where that right applies. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it without affecting the lawfulness of earlier use.

Your right to object

You can object to our use of your information based on legitimate interests. Tell us about your circumstances and we will consider your request and explain the outcome.

Use the contact page to make a request. We may need proportionate information to confirm your identity before disclosing personal data. We normally respond to rights requests within one month, subject to the extensions and other provisions allowed by law, and will explain any applicable exception.

If you are concerned about how we have handled your information, contact the project with the subject “Privacy complaint”, a description of the concern and a way to reply. You do not have to use those exact words or complete a particular form for us to consider a complaint.

We will acknowledge a privacy complaint within 30 days, investigate it without undue delay and keep you informed of the outcome. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office through its complaints service. You do not need our permission to do so.

We will update this notice when the website’s services or information practices change, including when online enquiries are activated or any analytics are introduced. The date at the top shows the latest revision. You can also read our website terms for information about content, contributions and visiting featured places.