100k online burial records will boost genealogy tourism in Cork region

A team of volunteers are entering the final phase of the project which will  see all records of county council-controlled graveyards completed

St Patrick's Cemetery, Skibbereen: The Skibbereen records have raised a lot of interest from North America because many who survived the Great Famine emigrated there. Picture: Carol Gilbert

A team of volunteers who put in thousands of hours are about to break the 100,000-barrier on online burial records, resulting in a huge boost in genealogy tourism in the Cork region.

They are now entering the final phase of the project which will be concluded next year and see all records of county council-controlled graveyards completed.

The project started in an ad hoc way in in 2010 but really took off in the last four years. 

Four volunteers, including Skibbereen Heritage Centre manager Terri Kearney, have now uploaded almost 100,000 records of 143 graveyards and are on the final leg to complete some outstanding ones in north Cork.

Ms Kearney said it has been “a labour of love” and there has been great satisfaction for the team on a number of fronts.

“Loads of new headstones have gone up as a result of it, as people were able to discover relatives buried in previously unmarked graves,” Ms Kearney said.

“The response from the public has been amazing. We have a lot of visitors coming from abroad who have been able to locate their ancestors’ final resting places.

“It has definitely helped with enhancing genealogical tourism numbers in the region.”

Many of those who come over make trips time and again afterwards due to discovering their roots and heritage.

The Skibbereen records have raised a lot of interest from North America because many who survived the Great Famine emigrated there.

A new tranche of thousands of previously unavailable records has just been uploaded by the team at the county council-run Skibbereen Heritage Centre and can be accessed online. 

Access to the online records is free of charge from anywhere in the world.

The latest upload features graveyard records primarily from north Cork, but also includes three graveyards from the Bandon area.

The graveyards included in the latest upload are: Abbeyswell (Kilgobnet), Aglish, Araglen (or Araglin), Ballyhea, Ballylough, Banteer, Castlemagner, Castletownroche (Kilsane/Kilsone), Clonfert, Conna, Cooline, Drishane, Holycross, St Brigid’s Buttevant, St Lachteen’s Grenagh, St Mary’s Millstreet and three Bandon graveyards — St Peter’s Ballymodan, Kilbrogan, and the Old Ballymodan Graveyard.

Skibbereen-based Mayor of County Cork Joe Carroll said: "It's a huge body of work to have almost 100,000 burial records available online for people from across the globe to discover their ancestor’s final resting place."

All of the information is on the Skibbereen Heritage Centre website www.skibbheritage.com including maps of all the sites covered to date and a searchable database.