Almost 300 years of Irish parish records go online

The baptismal records of Irish historical figures, including 1916 leader Padraig Pearse and writer Peig Sayers, are contained in Catholic Church parish records released online yesterday by the National Library of Ireland.

Dating from the 1740s to the 1880s, the records involve almost 300 years of Catholic parish registers mainly of births and marriages and cover the entire island of Ireland and can now be accessed free of charge online.

The parish records are of historical importance as nearly all records were lost during the Civil War when, on June 30, 1922, after a two-day bombardment, a fire ravaged the building.

Apart from a few fragments, the records of Irish censuses of 1821, 1831, 1841, and 1851 were burned in the Public Records Office.

So too were about half of the Anglican Church of Ireland registers deposited there after the dis-establishment of the state church in 1869.

All pre-1900 documents from the legal courts were lost, as were local government records for the same period.

Covering more than 1,000 parishes, the registers typically include information such as dates of baptisms and marriages, and the names of key people involved, such as witnesses or godparents.

The documents can be viewed at registers.nli.ie.