Irish Churches
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There are three kinds of parish.
Quod Civilia, where there is a parish which is used for civil purposes.
Quod Omnia, where the parish boundaries are the same for both Civil and Ecclesiastical purposes.
     Basically the COI parishes
Quod Sacra. A parish for Ecclesiastical purposes only,
     especially the Roman Catholic parishes.

From the 1600's until the political partition of Ireland, the official religion was Church of Ireland i.e. Protestant. Therefore, the civil record system was geared up to that. Only since 1922 had the Catholic Church been the official basis for church records. It follows that any parish record research conducted prior to partition should start with the official state religion, Church of Ireland.

The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland as the official state church occurred in 1869. At that time all CofI parish records were supposed to be sent to Dublin for safekeeping. The only exceptions to this edict were parishes that could prove they had secure facilities for the safeguarding of records. Most parishes complied and it is with some irony that these, and not the Catholic parish records, which were deemed to be of no value, were destroyed in the shelling of the Four Courts building at the outbreak of the Irish Civil War.

One exception to this is the City of Dublin CofI parishes, the records for which were largely preserved.

There is a book called Irish Churches and Graveyards which has
addresses and such. Should be in your local genealogical society.


Another book is Marriages in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Taum, Ireland, 1821-1829 by Helen M. Murphy and James R. Rielly

Local and Parish Histories of Ireland

Irish Parishes Searchable Data Base at the National Archives, OnLine

Registration Districts are important to know for some records.


There are some parish registers at the Maritime Museum Fianna page

Finding Churches Go to your local FHC and look at fiche series #6020301. It's called
'Irish County Maps Showing the Locations of Churches.' There are charts
showing all the churches and dates of their records, as well as the maps.


If there's a church you wish to look at, try the pictures on Churches and Abbeys




Church of Ireland
Baptist
Methodist
Jewish
Presbyterian
Quaker
Roman Catholic



LDS Film #'s for Many Irish Parishes  from DH 
  also see each county for more complete data.

Church of Ireland Church Records and Starting Dates from DH

Presybterian Church Records and Starting Dates from DH

Roman Catholic Church Record Links in Fianna from DH





  IRISH RECORDS by James Ryan says the following about Baptist records:

"In 1861 Baptists only numbered 4,237. The records are not located in a central repository. Each church holds the records. You can write to the
Baptist Historical Society
117 Lisburn Road
Belfast BT9 7AF
Northern Ireland

They can help you with the local parish addresses. They also publish a journal. An account of the origins and record keeping practices of the Baptist Church is given by H.D. Gribbon in IRISH CHURCH RECORDS published by Flyleaf Press, Dublin"


.
Church of Ireland (Anglican) website

COI Diocese and Parish addresses

.Representative Church Body Library
Braemor Park - Churchtown
Dublin 14
Tel: 1-492 3979
Hours: 9 a.m. - 1 p.m., 1:45 - 5 p.m., M-F
Email: [email protected]


.
Irish Jewish Museum,
3-4 Walworth Street,
South Circular Road,
Dublin 8
Tel/Fax: (01) 475 8388



.
Methodist Church in Ireland


.
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Email for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland [email protected]

Presbyterian Historical Society
Church House - Fisherwick Place
Belfast, Northern Ireland BT1 6DW
Telephone 01232 322284, ask for Bob Bonnar
open from 10-00am to 1-00pm.

It is in the Centre of Belfast in Gt Victoria Street. It keeps copies of Presbyterian Church records and other Presbyterian records. The keeper of the records is Bob Bonnar and the public can search usually by appointment and in the morning. This is because he only works in the mornings and space is limited.

If you wish to contribute to the upkeep of the Library, there is a small cash box on a table. There will be NO request for money.

The entrance to Church House is in Wellington St., between Queen St. and College Sq. East.

The folks at PRONI have added a page on their web site which gives the PRONI references to the Presbyterian Church records which they have filmed. The really interesting thing on the page however is that they will happily provide copies of microfilms of these records (provided written permission is obtained from the current minister of the church) at the cost of 13pounds 30pence (UK) per copy plus postage.

The History of Early American Presbyterian Church

Page author Aprille McKay has transcribed information from "Enclyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: Including the Northern and Southern Assemblies" and arranged the information by church and location.




Quaker Records
Religious Society of Friends,
Swanbrook House,
Morehampton Road,
Dublin 4
Tel/Fax: (01) 668 3684
Mon-Fri: 10am-1pm.


Quaker records are extensive, well indexed and centrally maintained in two locations in Ireland: Dublin Friends Historical Library and the Society's Ulster Archives Committee at Lisburn.

As a result of a decision of a yearly meeting about 1860 and reflecting a similar yearly meeting in London, abstracts were made of the local monthly meetings of births, marriages and deaths. These abstracts are located in the Dublin Friends Historical Library back to the 1670's and in some cases include earlier material extracted from family lists. National abstract registers have been maintained in Dublin since 1859. Registrations after 1859 are accessible under certain conditions on application to the Recording Clerk of the Dublin Yearly meeting.

Microfilms of the Ulster province archives were given to the DHFl and the Lisburn Archives - where the originals continue to be kept.

The Minute books date back to the case of the National meeting 1671. Province minute books: Leinster 16790; Munster 1694 and Ulster 1674. The earliest monthly meeting books are for Cork and date from 1675.

Some USA minute books have been compiled which include antecedent events in Ireland. These are available in the fee-based portion of Ancestry.com's data bases.

Irish Quaker BDMs 1859 forward FHLC # 0571399

A Help to Quaker Research


.
Roman Catholic Dioceses in Ireland


Each independent kingdom in the evolving Christian European church bureaucracy of about the year 1000 AD had one or more dioceses, grouped together under an Archdiocese. The dioceses often represented (as in Ireland) independent tribal kingdoms or principalities, while the Archdiocese corresponded with the king. Each king had his own archbishop to crown him. Ireland has four archbishops - because the mediaeval church couldn't tell which of the four (originally five) province kings in the 1100 period was going to become over-all ruler, if any. Belfast, Northern Ireland doesn't even have a diocese, since the city grew only from the 17th century, whereas the dioceses were drawn up in the 12th!

From the National Library in Dublin:
Church Records for Dublin are available on Microfiche at the National Library Of Ireland on Kildare Street. No permission is needed a person wishing to view same must have a reason (in your case Family research) they are issued with a readers ticket.

The Bishops of three dioceses have restricted public access to their records and the Library requires letters of authorisation from the Bishop before these microfilms can be read. The Dioceses are: Cashel and Emly, Kerry, Limerick. The bishops from whom written permission is required are:

Most Rev. Dermot Clifford DD
c/o Diocesan Secretary, Rev Colin Bergin
St Patrick's College
Thurles, Co Tipperary
Tel 00353-504-21201

Most Rev. William Murphy DD
Bishop of Kerry,
Bishop's House,
Killarney, Co. Kerry

Most Rev. Donal Murray, DD
Bishop of Limerick
66, O'Connell Street
Limerick

The registers of other dioceses are freely available. Check that the permission is still required. Recently the requirement for permission to view records has been lifted in some parishes. It's normally the local parish priest who would field requests for viewing records. Obviously it's helpful if you know which parish you need! A Helpful Site allows you to choose between north and south Dublin. Quite a lot a of church records, as part of a State project, are now in a huge database and a form you find at this site will allow, for a fee, a search.

When one goes to NLI for Genealogical research as opposed to other research the process of getting a reader's ticket is simplified and there is expert help available if needed, so on entering the main door one gives "genealogical research" as the purpose of your visit. No reason other than that is required to view Co. Dublin records, just find a viewer, fill out the request slip and the microfilm will be delivered to you at the table!

"...Original and post-1880 registers are generally in the custody of the
Parish Priest."



The Local Catholic Church History and Genealogy Research Guide site has lots of links to help researchers, including a Guide to the Types of Records That May Be Found, Guide to the Locations of Records, and a Brief Guide to United States Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions. Be sure to check out the specific geographic links for local resources. Their Irish Page has snail mail addresses, and links/emails for some. Take a look!



The Major Seminaries in Ireland were/are Maynooth, St. Patricks (1795), and All Hallows Dublin (1842). Prior to this students for the priesthood were trained on the continent. The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars closed many. Monastic orders were other possibilities, as were the Redemptorists.

For information on institutions run by the Mercy Order, you could write to
Archivist, Mercy International Centre, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2.

Churches and Abbeys - Architecture


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