Representative Church Body Library
Representative Church Body Library, Braemor Park, Dublin
The following words of wisdom are based on my own first-hand experiences. Please get in touch if you can add to this advice with your own observations.
What is this archive and what might you find there?
The Representative Church Body Library (RCBL) is the official archive for the Church of Ireland. It is a fairly small and rather unprepossessing building located in Braemor Park in one of the southern suburbs of Dublin, but can be reached by public transport (see their Location page.) The main business of the archive is to provide a secure home for surviving Church of Ireland parish registers and other important ecclesiastical papers.
How to find your way to treasure in this archive, in person or remotely?
Whilst the majority of their valuable resources must be consulted in person at the Library, there are small number of transcription projects appearing on-line under their Anglican Record Project which it is well worth keeping an eye on as the collection grows.
Visiting hours are fairly strict and it closes for lunch as it has a very small staff (nowhere to get your own nearby I'm afraid, so bring a picnic if you are returning in the afternoon.) Do your homework in the RCBL Catalogue first and come prepared with your call-up requests. In particular, consult their Church of Ireland - Table of All Parish Registers throughout Ireland to see if they have anything on the parishes you are interested in. Uniquely, they also have some vestry minute books which might also provide an insight into your ancestors lives, particularly if they served as churchwardens - see their List of Vestry Minute Books. Note, I have used both these lists as sources to create the Church of Ireland Parish Records Finder that appear on each county page on this website.
If you cannot visit in person, then the paragraph at the bottom of their very brief Genealogy page suggests that you can buy time from one of the archivists to search on your behalf. I've not used this service myself, so let me know if it works well for you.
What can you find out from these records?
As you would expect, the parish registers should furnish your research with copious "hatchings", "matchings" and "despatchings", but if you are viewing actual original parish registers, there could be other information recorded by the curate or parish clerk that adds to your family's story and may not necessarily have made it into any transcripts or indexes e.g. father's occupations or townland of residence. I think it's sometimes good for your genealogical soul to take the time to "read around" the entries that might initially interest you and familiarise yourself with some of the other families in the vicinity that your family may have intermarried with or known as you never know when the connections might pop up elsewhere and explain something e.g. a move to the city or abroad. Be sure to follow your family names as far back into the registers as possible to get an idea of when they may have moved to a particular parish and similarly follow the same names forward to find related branches, or when the name seems to disappear.
What is this archive and what might you find there?
The Representative Church Body Library (RCBL) is the official archive for the Church of Ireland. It is a fairly small and rather unprepossessing building located in Braemor Park in one of the southern suburbs of Dublin, but can be reached by public transport (see their Location page.) The main business of the archive is to provide a secure home for surviving Church of Ireland parish registers and other important ecclesiastical papers.
How to find your way to treasure in this archive, in person or remotely?
Whilst the majority of their valuable resources must be consulted in person at the Library, there are small number of transcription projects appearing on-line under their Anglican Record Project which it is well worth keeping an eye on as the collection grows.
Visiting hours are fairly strict and it closes for lunch as it has a very small staff (nowhere to get your own nearby I'm afraid, so bring a picnic if you are returning in the afternoon.) Do your homework in the RCBL Catalogue first and come prepared with your call-up requests. In particular, consult their Church of Ireland - Table of All Parish Registers throughout Ireland to see if they have anything on the parishes you are interested in. Uniquely, they also have some vestry minute books which might also provide an insight into your ancestors lives, particularly if they served as churchwardens - see their List of Vestry Minute Books. Note, I have used both these lists as sources to create the Church of Ireland Parish Records Finder that appear on each county page on this website.
If you cannot visit in person, then the paragraph at the bottom of their very brief Genealogy page suggests that you can buy time from one of the archivists to search on your behalf. I've not used this service myself, so let me know if it works well for you.
What can you find out from these records?
As you would expect, the parish registers should furnish your research with copious "hatchings", "matchings" and "despatchings", but if you are viewing actual original parish registers, there could be other information recorded by the curate or parish clerk that adds to your family's story and may not necessarily have made it into any transcripts or indexes e.g. father's occupations or townland of residence. I think it's sometimes good for your genealogical soul to take the time to "read around" the entries that might initially interest you and familiarise yourself with some of the other families in the vicinity that your family may have intermarried with or known as you never know when the connections might pop up elsewhere and explain something e.g. a move to the city or abroad. Be sure to follow your family names as far back into the registers as possible to get an idea of when they may have moved to a particular parish and similarly follow the same names forward to find related branches, or when the name seems to disappear.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2020
