Free Websites
Here are links to the homepages of what I consider to be some of the most useful FREE Irish websites, suffixed thus;
(SEARCH MAPS) if there are active maps that you can click on to explore further layers.
(MAPS) if there are static pictures or actual maps of geographical divisions.
(NAMES) if there are searchable databases of named data, but do remember for some sites this may be very limited.
Commercial Sites
Volunteer Sites
National Sites
Independent Sites
(SEARCH MAPS) if there are active maps that you can click on to explore further layers.
(MAPS) if there are static pictures or actual maps of geographical divisions.
(NAMES) if there are searchable databases of named data, but do remember for some sites this may be very limited.
Commercial Sites
- Irish Ancestors = John Grenham's very comprehensive site for locating places with active maps of civil parishes, Roman Catholic parishes and Poor Law Unions. John has generously kept free to access all the reference material that was previously free on his old home at the Irish Times website. However, there is a limit on accessing his Record Reference pages of 5 free views in any 24 hour period. If you need to view more you will have to subscribe or wait until tomorrow...(SEARCH MAPS)
- Irish Record Collections on LDS Familysearch = There are 13 major data sets including several with associated images (although for the Estate records and Prison Registers you are redirected to the FindMyPast subscription site to view them) The Civil Registration Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths (BMDs) from 1865 to 1958 (from 1845 for non-Catholic marriages) is the largest data set and there are also selected transcripts of church records. There are also Tithe Applotment Books and Will Calendars and some early census fragments. (NAMES)
- Irish Genealogical Research Society - This is a long-standing members organisation founded in the decade following the devastating PROI fire. They have lots of members only resources, but their Early Irish Marriage Index is free to search and has over 70,000 transcribed records from a very wide range of sources. Do read the excellent introduction to the database too. (NAMES)
Volunteer Sites
- GENUKI - Ireland page = Good site to familiarise yourself with lots of basic geographical information and explore their county pages. However, be warned, many of these pages are very sparsely populated and have not been updated for several years.
- Irish Genealogy Project (IGP) = Big volunteer based project that gathers together ad-hoc genealogical data from all across Ireland. Organised by county. The style and quality of the different pages does vary but several adopt helpful standard headings for record categories. (NAMES)
National Sites
- Irish Genealogy = The Irish Dept. of Heritage, Arts and the Gaeltacht site that has extensive church records for the counties not covered by the IIFHF Roots Ireland site, namely Dublin, Cork, Carlow and Kerry. (NAMES)
- National Archives of Ireland = There are several large searchable data sets on their genealogy records page, most notably the 1901 & 1911 Censuses, Will Calendars, 1858-1920, 1841 / 1851 Census search Forms, Tithe Applotment Books and Soldiers Wills from the First World War are also searchable. The Will Calendars from 1922 are not searchable like the earlier ones, but the documents can be browsed by year - access the year you want via Chris Paton's helpful shortcuts. (NAMES)
- Griffiths Valuations (AskAboutIreland) = The best free site for exploring these major 19th century land rental records. There are images of the original maps that accompanied the records making it possible to see exactly where your ancestors either owned or rented property - these can be hard to read but are incredibly detailed. Make sure you read their guide to interpeting the records and maps first. (MAPS) (NAMES)
- Church of Ireland = This website has loads of genealogical information including a guide to its library in Dublin (RCBL) and the Anglican Record Project where there is a growing list of transcribed records.
- PRONI Online Archives & Catalogues = The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has some online records, most notably indexes to Will Calendars for the NI counties. One of the other unique resources available here is the collection of Valuation Revision Books, 1864-1933 for the NI counties which continued the register of land occupiers/owners after Griffiths' great Victorian survey. However you cannot search these by name - you need to know the townland or street where your ancestors lived. (NAMES)
Independent Sites
- Irish Genealogy Toolkit = Claire Santry's great site for clear information, links and practical research advice (MAPS)
- Index of Free Irish e-Books = This is a real treasure trove of links to online books including histories, journals, almanacs and directories. The Church Records pages in particular contain links to selected online records where you may get lucky with a parish of interest. (NAMES)
- SWilson.Info = Shane Wilson's very wide ranging collection of maps, transcripts and articles. Check out the articles list in particular for some good advice on navigating place-names. There is also a brilliant Catholic Parish finding page which also shows you where the churches were c.1837. (NAMES) (MAPS)
- Sean Murphy's "A Primer of Irish Genealogy" = Sean Murphy's excellent introduction to searching for your Irish ancestors in the form of a PDF document that you can download. Sean taught a hugely popular genealogy course at UCL in Dublin for many years and has also been involved in several volunteer projects in Dublin.
