Church of Ireland Dioceses & Diocesan Records
Why are dioceses important genealogically and how many of them were there?
From its creation as the Established Church in the second half of the 16th century up to the Court of Probate Act of 1857, the Church of Ireland was responsible for legally administering some legal aspects of vital life events i.e. registering marriage bonds and licences for those people who did not want to marry by banns and registering wills and intestacy after death. These were usually registered in the diocese for either the bride's or the deceased's local parish, but not always. Wills with assets worth more than £5 across different dioceses were usually referred up to the highest ecclesiastical court i.e. the Archbishop of Armagh's Prerogative Court which used to sit in Henrietta St. in Dublin. There also appear to be a significant number of marriage licence bonds registered within the Prerogative court too, but I am not clear as to what circumstances would have prompted this course of action - perhaps the bride was not Irish and therefore had no "home" parish? If you know, please enlighten me!
There were originally 4 Ecclesiastical Provinces, each sub-divided into Dioceses as follows (virtually all the same names as the Roman Catholic dioceses and archdioceses that preceded them but you cannot rely on them having exactly the same boundaries.)
From its creation as the Established Church in the second half of the 16th century up to the Court of Probate Act of 1857, the Church of Ireland was responsible for legally administering some legal aspects of vital life events i.e. registering marriage bonds and licences for those people who did not want to marry by banns and registering wills and intestacy after death. These were usually registered in the diocese for either the bride's or the deceased's local parish, but not always. Wills with assets worth more than £5 across different dioceses were usually referred up to the highest ecclesiastical court i.e. the Archbishop of Armagh's Prerogative Court which used to sit in Henrietta St. in Dublin. There also appear to be a significant number of marriage licence bonds registered within the Prerogative court too, but I am not clear as to what circumstances would have prompted this course of action - perhaps the bride was not Irish and therefore had no "home" parish? If you know, please enlighten me!
There were originally 4 Ecclesiastical Provinces, each sub-divided into Dioceses as follows (virtually all the same names as the Roman Catholic dioceses and archdioceses that preceded them but you cannot rely on them having exactly the same boundaries.)
Image from archive.org
Which diocese is relevant to your research?
If you know what townland your ancestor lived in, then you need to know which Church of Ireland ecclesiastical parish it was in. Generally speaking, this was the same as the civil parish, so start with finding that out by searching on the Irish Ancestors Placenames website for the townland.
The next step is to place the parish in the right diocese. I'm afraid that this information is not on the Placenames website but I have included the diocese on my Church of Ireland Parish Record Finder spreadsheets, having consulted a wide range of sources. Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837 also appeared to be scrupulous in listing which diocese a parish living fell under so check his work for your placename / parish if you are struggling to find it elsewhere.
If your geographical information is a bit more vague, then Sir Arthur Vicars included a handy little table at the end of his wills index published in 1897 that broadly maps the counties to the one or more dioceses that covered them. Click on the page image to the left to enlarge it and you should get a general idea of which ones might be relevant to your research.
If you know what townland your ancestor lived in, then you need to know which Church of Ireland ecclesiastical parish it was in. Generally speaking, this was the same as the civil parish, so start with finding that out by searching on the Irish Ancestors Placenames website for the townland.
The next step is to place the parish in the right diocese. I'm afraid that this information is not on the Placenames website but I have included the diocese on my Church of Ireland Parish Record Finder spreadsheets, having consulted a wide range of sources. Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland of 1837 also appeared to be scrupulous in listing which diocese a parish living fell under so check his work for your placename / parish if you are struggling to find it elsewhere.
If your geographical information is a bit more vague, then Sir Arthur Vicars included a handy little table at the end of his wills index published in 1897 that broadly maps the counties to the one or more dioceses that covered them. Click on the page image to the left to enlarge it and you should get a general idea of which ones might be relevant to your research.
What about some maps? The National Archives of Ireland website did have an early 20th century Church of Ireland diocesan map (this is an archived page) It gives you a good general idea of the location and extent of the majority of the dioceses so get your bearings with this and be sure to check adjacent diocesan records too, if your ancestor's parish was on or close to the borders. Note, some of the smaller dioceses appear to absent from this map, probably as result of administrative mergers by that time (this modern Dioceses & Parishes site shows you just how much amalgamation has taken place historically.)
Brian Mitchell's "A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland" (see Guides and Finding Aids) has line drawings of the counties showing all their parishes overlaid with baronies and some supplementary notes on which baronies and/or parishes are in which dioceses. These black and white line drawings are screaming out for a bit of colour to make it all a bit clearer and I'm sorely tempted to get my colouring pencils out myself!
Brian Mitchell's "A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland" (see Guides and Finding Aids) has line drawings of the counties showing all their parishes overlaid with baronies and some supplementary notes on which baronies and/or parishes are in which dioceses. These black and white line drawings are screaming out for a bit of colour to make it all a bit clearer and I'm sorely tempted to get my colouring pencils out myself!
What records survive and what can they tell you?
Firstly, and sadly, the actual marriage licence bonds and original wills for this period have largely been lost in the oft reported Four Courts conflagration of 1922. What remains are usually official indexes that were made prior to this date or possibly some rare selected transcriptions. These can be scant in content but are better than nothing at all.
Indexes to marriage licence bonds will generally contain the name of the bride and groom and the year in which the licence was granted - not necessarily the year of marriage nor indeed an indication that a marriage actually took place. With relatively common names this of course means you may find many candidates with little to differentiate between them. If you know the names of the couple and find them as candidates in the right diocese then you at least know an earliest year of marriage. If you cannot find your known couple in these sources, then the most likely explanation is that they married by banns and you would have to try to find the parish register, if it survives. If you are searching on a relatively uncommon name, I encourage you to note down every marriage you find for that name in the diocese for later reference - fill a page or several in your notebook and even better, build a simple spreadsheet. You may find yourself coming back to these lists later in your research like I did when I had gleaned a bit more information from somewhere else and realised that I had seen that name somewhere before ... a surname used as a middle name in later generations perhaps hinting at a connection to a much earlier marriage of potential grand-parents?
Indexes to wills may be a little more forthcoming with details in order to differentiate between similar names. For example, you may find an occupation given for men and a townland or Dublin address. However, be prepared to find nothing more than a name and a year in some diocesan indexes. The indexes for the Dublin diocese compiled by the Deputy Record Keeper do make the distinction between there having been a will and a person dying intestate. There are also some more esoteric ecclesiastically legal entries recorded in this index according to this list of abbreviations.
Firstly, and sadly, the actual marriage licence bonds and original wills for this period have largely been lost in the oft reported Four Courts conflagration of 1922. What remains are usually official indexes that were made prior to this date or possibly some rare selected transcriptions. These can be scant in content but are better than nothing at all.
Indexes to marriage licence bonds will generally contain the name of the bride and groom and the year in which the licence was granted - not necessarily the year of marriage nor indeed an indication that a marriage actually took place. With relatively common names this of course means you may find many candidates with little to differentiate between them. If you know the names of the couple and find them as candidates in the right diocese then you at least know an earliest year of marriage. If you cannot find your known couple in these sources, then the most likely explanation is that they married by banns and you would have to try to find the parish register, if it survives. If you are searching on a relatively uncommon name, I encourage you to note down every marriage you find for that name in the diocese for later reference - fill a page or several in your notebook and even better, build a simple spreadsheet. You may find yourself coming back to these lists later in your research like I did when I had gleaned a bit more information from somewhere else and realised that I had seen that name somewhere before ... a surname used as a middle name in later generations perhaps hinting at a connection to a much earlier marriage of potential grand-parents?
Indexes to wills may be a little more forthcoming with details in order to differentiate between similar names. For example, you may find an occupation given for men and a townland or Dublin address. However, be prepared to find nothing more than a name and a year in some diocesan indexes. The indexes for the Dublin diocese compiled by the Deputy Record Keeper do make the distinction between there having been a will and a person dying intestate. There are also some more esoteric ecclesiastically legal entries recorded in this index according to this list of abbreviations.
NAI Testamentary Index Card (Click to enlarge)
Where can you find surviving records, abstracts or transcripts?
Firstly, what you are mostly going to find are indexes, which means precious little information beyond names and dates I'm afraid. However, there are some abstracts courtesy of some venerable genies of the past - they never thought we would lose so much of these invaluable records. And occasionally, you will find copies of wills - they just take some finding.
One place to hunt first, because you never know, you might hit pay dirt, are the free browsable resources on FamilySearch that cover whatever testamentary records, including restored copies, that made their way to the National Archives of Ireland after 1922. These include some pre-1858 wills and marriage licence bonds.
These are accessible firstly by browsing digital images of the card index via their Index to Testamentary Records in the Public Record Office, Dublin, 15th-20th Century. Choose the relevant alphabetical file and page through the thumbnails to see if there was anything deposited for your family names.
Once you locate an entry (that will look like the image above), note the reference number that is prefaced with a "T" or an "M". You will need this reference to choose the right film from the next free FamilySearch resource - Testamentary Documents in the Public Record office, Dublin. This is a bit of a daunting list of 137 microfilms all labelled with various ranges of T and M numbers, but not all of them - there are sizeable gaps and omissions that are probably for items that were too large to film perhaps? Most films are available for online access, but bizarrely a few have that annoying little key symbol over the camera icon which means they are only accessible via a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Choose your film and attempt to find your document.
The reference numbers are written on the opening pages of the packet of documents, so you are going to have to squint at those thumbnail images and try to pick out what look like opening pages. You will spend a fair bit of time paging around to try to locate your number (hopefully in sequence!) However, this is no bad thing, as in my experience I have found that there can be a run of documents for related family members - perhaps they all arrived from a solicitors office and were catalogued one after the other. This resource is crying out to be indexed - I wonder if it is on the list awaiting volunteers?
Firstly, what you are mostly going to find are indexes, which means precious little information beyond names and dates I'm afraid. However, there are some abstracts courtesy of some venerable genies of the past - they never thought we would lose so much of these invaluable records. And occasionally, you will find copies of wills - they just take some finding.
One place to hunt first, because you never know, you might hit pay dirt, are the free browsable resources on FamilySearch that cover whatever testamentary records, including restored copies, that made their way to the National Archives of Ireland after 1922. These include some pre-1858 wills and marriage licence bonds.
These are accessible firstly by browsing digital images of the card index via their Index to Testamentary Records in the Public Record Office, Dublin, 15th-20th Century. Choose the relevant alphabetical file and page through the thumbnails to see if there was anything deposited for your family names.
Once you locate an entry (that will look like the image above), note the reference number that is prefaced with a "T" or an "M". You will need this reference to choose the right film from the next free FamilySearch resource - Testamentary Documents in the Public Record office, Dublin. This is a bit of a daunting list of 137 microfilms all labelled with various ranges of T and M numbers, but not all of them - there are sizeable gaps and omissions that are probably for items that were too large to film perhaps? Most films are available for online access, but bizarrely a few have that annoying little key symbol over the camera icon which means they are only accessible via a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Choose your film and attempt to find your document.
The reference numbers are written on the opening pages of the packet of documents, so you are going to have to squint at those thumbnail images and try to pick out what look like opening pages. You will spend a fair bit of time paging around to try to locate your number (hopefully in sequence!) However, this is no bad thing, as in my experience I have found that there can be a run of documents for related family members - perhaps they all arrived from a solicitors office and were catalogued one after the other. This resource is crying out to be indexed - I wonder if it is on the list awaiting volunteers?
Image from www.archive.org
As of September 2016, the National Archives of Ireland have released 2 sets of indexed Diocesan records online for free, mostly with accompanying images. These are Diocesan and Prerogative Wills (1595-1858) and Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bonds Indexes (1623-1866) The wills are fairly limited in scope (check the introduction page that the link takes you to), but you may get lucky with a reference or even a copy of an early will. The marriage licence bonds index is very limited in terms of the information it contains (just bride and grooms name and the year in which the licence was granted), but as it claims to go back to 1623, this could be a very significant source if your Protestant ancestors were blessed with unusual names. You can also search the indexes for pairs of surnames.
The same Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bond Indexes, 1623-1866 are also available for free via Family Search and are believed to cover the dioceses in bold above according to their microfilm catalogue entry. Find My Past also appears to have licenced most of these same records from FamilySearch with indexed transcriptions and images available - see their Irish catalogue page under Marriages & Divorces. Both Find My Past and Ancestry also have transcripts and page images of indexes to probate records and marriage licence bonds for the diocese of Dublin, 1272-1858, which were listed as appendices in the report of the Deputy Keeper of Ireland.
Find My Past also have transcripts and images from the incomparable notebooks of Sir William Betham - see Betham's Genealogical Abstracts (FMP=£). Before his death in 1853, he worked with many of the extant genealogical sources of the time to produce will pedigrees and other genealogical derivatives. His notebooks contain valuable information in note form detailing for example, family relationships in wills and parishes of residence in marriage licence bonds. There is a separate index on just the marriage bond information on Find My Past which suggests that the date range applicable for these records is 1629-1810, but I would just search the main collection via the link above as you never know what else you may find.
Sir Arthur Vicars' Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810 published in 1897, is one of the most authoritative works on Irish wills and is available as a free e-book to browse and download. It's worth reading the preface to understand how he produced the index. You will also find an indexed version of this resource on both Ancestry and FindMyPast where the latter claims the addition of a previously unpublished supplement of 1914 too.
W.P.W. Phillimore and Gertrude Thrift's Index to Irish Wills published in 1909 is also available on-line with both Ancestry and FindMyPast too. Originally published in 5 volumes covering the period 1536-1858, you can also browse the records by diocese if you cannot find what you seek initially via the indexes.
There are also a few FREE ad-hoc transcriptions of various diocesan indexes to marriage licence bonds, wills and administration bonds that have been published on line, but there are no original images for you to check the quality of the transcripts. Read the introductions to these resources carefully as they are often incomplete but you never know what you might find. Find My Past also seem to have most of them too if you prefer to use their search screens (marked with FMP=£ below) but with their usual lack of proper source citations, I'm going by the tiny copyright labels on the images.
The following indexes were transcribed by Rosemary ffolliott and are all contained in the same document available for free to browse on FamilySearch - scroll down through the pages to find the diocese you want.
If you prefer to search rather than browse, then FindMyPast have indexed some of the same records as follows;
The following transcribed indexes are also available to browse online for free, some of which originally appeared in the journals of local archaeological or historical societies;
Wills from all over Ireland were also sometimes registered at the Registry of Deeds, especially when they involved bequeathing land and/or may have had complex or difficult bequests that were liable to be contested. Beryl Eustace made it her mission to produce an index to those registered up to 1832 in 3 volumes. You can search and browse both Volumes 1 and 2 on Ancestry via Registry of Deeds, Dublin - Abstract of Wills (Anc=£)
Else you can find all 3 volumes for free well hidden on the Irish Manuscripts Commission digitised out of print publications (where you may find other treasure ...)
However, watch out for a bit of a quirk when it comes to browsing these volumes. The links above will take you to a volume cover icon which when clicked, opens a separate window. Use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to leaf through the pages virtually. I do recommend that you take a moment to read her excellent Introduction as this will help manage your expectations as to what was actually recorded. Each volume has a helpful Index of Names and Index of Placenames towards the back, so best to head for those by entering a suitably high image number and leafing back or forwards to get to the start of each, remembering that image numbers don't necessarily correspond with the page numbers that are printed on the scanned pages!
Names in bold in the Index of Names are those for whom a will was registered. Other names are those of people who were named in registered wills in different roles e.g. benefactors, witnesses etc. The Index of Placenames helpfully lists the county after the placename. Now pay attention - the number listed after each name is the number of the abstract not the page number! Usually 2 or more abstracts appeared on each page, so you will have to take a guess as to where in the volume the abstract appears and again, leaf back or forwards to find the entry. The zoom facility is a bit of pain to use - be prepared for pages floating about on the screen and it not being very obvious how to toggle between the zoomed image and the double page layout - keep clicking and hopefully it will resolve itself but my advice is grit your teeth and be patient!
Once you have found an abstract, note the set of 3 numbers that appear to the bottom left at the end. These represent the book number, page number and memorial number which you can then use to look up the copy of the deed. See my Registry of Deeds page for how to do this online.
The same Ireland, Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bond Indexes, 1623-1866 are also available for free via Family Search and are believed to cover the dioceses in bold above according to their microfilm catalogue entry. Find My Past also appears to have licenced most of these same records from FamilySearch with indexed transcriptions and images available - see their Irish catalogue page under Marriages & Divorces. Both Find My Past and Ancestry also have transcripts and page images of indexes to probate records and marriage licence bonds for the diocese of Dublin, 1272-1858, which were listed as appendices in the report of the Deputy Keeper of Ireland.
Find My Past also have transcripts and images from the incomparable notebooks of Sir William Betham - see Betham's Genealogical Abstracts (FMP=£). Before his death in 1853, he worked with many of the extant genealogical sources of the time to produce will pedigrees and other genealogical derivatives. His notebooks contain valuable information in note form detailing for example, family relationships in wills and parishes of residence in marriage licence bonds. There is a separate index on just the marriage bond information on Find My Past which suggests that the date range applicable for these records is 1629-1810, but I would just search the main collection via the link above as you never know what else you may find.
Sir Arthur Vicars' Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810 published in 1897, is one of the most authoritative works on Irish wills and is available as a free e-book to browse and download. It's worth reading the preface to understand how he produced the index. You will also find an indexed version of this resource on both Ancestry and FindMyPast where the latter claims the addition of a previously unpublished supplement of 1914 too.
W.P.W. Phillimore and Gertrude Thrift's Index to Irish Wills published in 1909 is also available on-line with both Ancestry and FindMyPast too. Originally published in 5 volumes covering the period 1536-1858, you can also browse the records by diocese if you cannot find what you seek initially via the indexes.
There are also a few FREE ad-hoc transcriptions of various diocesan indexes to marriage licence bonds, wills and administration bonds that have been published on line, but there are no original images for you to check the quality of the transcripts. Read the introductions to these resources carefully as they are often incomplete but you never know what you might find. Find My Past also seem to have most of them too if you prefer to use their search screens (marked with FMP=£ below) but with their usual lack of proper source citations, I'm going by the tiny copyright labels on the images.
The following indexes were transcribed by Rosemary ffolliott and are all contained in the same document available for free to browse on FamilySearch - scroll down through the pages to find the diocese you want.
- Index to Ardagh Wills (starts on Pg1)
- Indexes to Clonfert Marriage Licence Bonds, Wills and Administration Bonds (starts on Pg23)
- Index to Raphoe Marriage Licence Bonds, 1710-1755 & 1817-1830 (starts on Pg45)
- Index to Leighlin Administration Intestate (starts on Pg62)
If you prefer to search rather than browse, then FindMyPast have indexed some of the same records as follows;
- Ardagh Wills, 1690-1857 (FMP=£)
- Clonfert Marriage Licence Bonds, Wills, Administrations (FMP=£)
- Leighlin Administrations, 1700-1857 (FMP=£)
The following transcribed indexes are also available to browse online for free, some of which originally appeared in the journals of local archaeological or historical societies;
- Ferns Marriage Licence Bonds, 1661-1806
- Kildare Diocese Wills
- Clogher Marriage Licence Bonds (Extracts), 1630-1800
- Cloyne Marriage Licence Bonds (also indexed on FindMyPast) (FMP=£)
- Cork and Ross Marriage Licence Bonds, 1623-1750
Wills from all over Ireland were also sometimes registered at the Registry of Deeds, especially when they involved bequeathing land and/or may have had complex or difficult bequests that were liable to be contested. Beryl Eustace made it her mission to produce an index to those registered up to 1832 in 3 volumes. You can search and browse both Volumes 1 and 2 on Ancestry via Registry of Deeds, Dublin - Abstract of Wills (Anc=£)
Else you can find all 3 volumes for free well hidden on the Irish Manuscripts Commission digitised out of print publications (where you may find other treasure ...)
- Registry of Deeds Dublin Abstract of Wills Vol. 1, 1708-1745
- Registry of Deeds Dublin Abstract of Wills Vol. 2, 1746-1785
- Registry of Deeds Dublin Abstract of Wills Vol. 3, 1785-1831
However, watch out for a bit of a quirk when it comes to browsing these volumes. The links above will take you to a volume cover icon which when clicked, opens a separate window. Use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to leaf through the pages virtually. I do recommend that you take a moment to read her excellent Introduction as this will help manage your expectations as to what was actually recorded. Each volume has a helpful Index of Names and Index of Placenames towards the back, so best to head for those by entering a suitably high image number and leafing back or forwards to get to the start of each, remembering that image numbers don't necessarily correspond with the page numbers that are printed on the scanned pages!
Names in bold in the Index of Names are those for whom a will was registered. Other names are those of people who were named in registered wills in different roles e.g. benefactors, witnesses etc. The Index of Placenames helpfully lists the county after the placename. Now pay attention - the number listed after each name is the number of the abstract not the page number! Usually 2 or more abstracts appeared on each page, so you will have to take a guess as to where in the volume the abstract appears and again, leaf back or forwards to find the entry. The zoom facility is a bit of pain to use - be prepared for pages floating about on the screen and it not being very obvious how to toggle between the zoomed image and the double page layout - keep clicking and hopefully it will resolve itself but my advice is grit your teeth and be patient!
Once you have found an abstract, note the set of 3 numbers that appear to the bottom left at the end. These represent the book number, page number and memorial number which you can then use to look up the copy of the deed. See my Registry of Deeds page for how to do this online.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2021
