diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/HDFDescriptor.h b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/HDFDescriptor.h
index 80e90657f3c2864ba89548f9146f53054aedb2d0..6b149b90c8a64bb165d5d2a44dc46b4ec3ba8d06 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/HDFDescriptor.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/HDFDescriptor.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "MantidKernel/DllConfig.h"
 
 #include <map>
+#include <set>
 #include <string>
 
 namespace Mantid
@@ -71,6 +72,8 @@ namespace Mantid
        */
       inline const std::string & extension() const { return m_extension; }
 
+      /// Query if the given attribute exists on the root node
+      bool hasRootAttr(const std::string &name) const;
       /// Query if a path exists
       bool pathExists(const std::string& path) const;
       /// Query if a path exists of a given type
@@ -89,6 +92,8 @@ namespace Mantid
       std::string m_filename;
       /// Extension
       std::string m_extension;
+      /// Root attributes
+      std::set<std::string> m_rootAttrs;
       /// Map of types to full path strings.
       std::multimap<std::string, std::string> *m_typesToPaths;
     };
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/HDFDescriptor.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/HDFDescriptor.cpp
index 242b321e22325bce271dad43f9e76fee531a9e4d..483dbd6961242b64ace79a4c5902cd34d88cfddf 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/HDFDescriptor.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/src/HDFDescriptor.cpp
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ namespace Mantid
      * involves simply checking for the signature if a HDF file at the start of the file
      */
     HDFDescriptor::HDFDescriptor(const std::string & filename)
-      : m_filename(), m_extension(), m_typesToPaths(NULL)
+      : m_filename(), m_extension(), m_rootAttrs(), m_typesToPaths(NULL)
     {
       if(filename.empty())
       {
@@ -126,6 +126,15 @@ namespace Mantid
     }
 
 
+    /**
+     * @param name The name of an attribute
+     * @return True if the attribute exists, false otherwise
+     */
+    bool HDFDescriptor::hasRootAttr(const std::string &name) const
+    {
+      return (m_rootAttrs.count(name) == 1); 
+    }
+
     /**
      * @param path A string giving a path using UNIX-style path separators (/), e.g. /raw_data_1, /entry/bank1
      * @return True if the path exists in the file, false otherwise
@@ -179,11 +188,13 @@ namespace Mantid
       m_extension = "." + Poco::Path(filename).getExtension();
 
       ::NeXus::File file(this->filename());
+      auto attrInfos = file.getAttrInfos();
+      for(size_t i = 0; i < attrInfos.size(); ++i)
+      {
+        m_rootAttrs.insert(attrInfos[i].name);
+      }
       m_typesToPaths = file.getTypeMap();
     }
 
-
-
-
   } // namespace Kernel
 } // namespace Mantid
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/test/HDFDescriptorTest.h b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/test/HDFDescriptorTest.h
index 296dc2c75e4e1b2dcd3744fb268f9b474e1a5442..c599ef1d99c393ea6f09c4562977acecc90d4327 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/test/HDFDescriptorTest.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/Kernel/test/HDFDescriptorTest.h
@@ -105,6 +105,16 @@ public:
     TS_ASSERT_THROWS(HDFDescriptor fd(m_testNonHDFPath), std::invalid_argument);
   }
 
+  void test_hasRootAttr_Returns_True_For_Existing_Attr()
+  {
+    TS_ASSERT(m_testHDF5->hasRootAttr("file_time"));
+  }
+
+  void test_hasRootAttr_Returns_False_For_Non_Existing_Attr()
+  {
+    TS_ASSERT(!m_testHDF5->hasRootAttr("not_attr"));
+  }
+
   void test_PathExists_Returns_False_For_Path_Not_In_File()
   {
     TS_ASSERT(!m_testHDF5->pathExists("/raw_data_1/bank1"));