[Research Guidance: Ireland - Research Outline] Research Guidance Version Of Data : 6/8/2001

Table of Contents
Introduction
Ireland Search Strategies
Records At The Family History Library
Familysearch™
The Family History Library Catalog
Archives And Libraries
Biography
Cemeteries
Census
Church Directories
Church History
Church Records
     Church Of Ireland Records
     Catholic Records
     Presbyterian Records
     Methodist Records
     Quaker (Society Of Friends
     Jewish Records
     Other Churches
     Locating Church Records
Civil Registration
     General Historical Background
     Information Recorded In Civil Registers
     Locating Civil Registration Records
Court Records
Directories
Emigration And Immigration
Gazetteers
Genealogy
Heraldry
History
Land And Property
Language And Languages
Maps
Military Records
Names, Personal
Naturalization And Citizenship
Newspapers
Nobility
Occupations
Periodicals
Poorhouses, Poor Law, Etc.
Probate Records
Schools
Societies
Taxation
Other Records For Ireland
For Further Reading
Comments And Suggestions

MAPS

Maps are helpful in locating the places where your ancestor lived. They help you identify neighboring towns, parishes, and geographic features. They can help you locate parish churches. They can show the transportation routes that your ancestor could have used in moving.

Maps may be published separately or in bound collections called atlases. Maps may also be found in gazetteers, guidebooks, local histories, directories, and history texts.

Different types of maps provide different types of information. Historical maps describe economic growth and development, boundary changes, migration and settlement patterns, military campaigns, transportation developments, effects of plagues, and other historical information. Road maps provide information on highways, rivers, and town sizes. Other types of maps include parish, county, topographical, enclosure, civil district, church diocesan, and many more highly specialized maps.

City and street maps are extremely useful when researching in the records of large cities. Locating an ancestor's address on a city or street map may help you determine which parish to search.

The major source of Irish topographical maps since 1800 is the Ordnance Survey, which covered all of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Maps were produced from the survey in series of 1 inch, 6 inches, and 25 inches to the mile. Series have been revised and published at different times. Ordnance Survey maps of greater detail (up to 10 feet to the mile) have been produced for most Irish cities. The following work explains the history of and details on the Ordnance Survey maps:

Harley, J. B. Ordnance Survey Maps: A Descriptive Manual. Southampton: Ordnance Survey, 1975. (FHL book 942 E3osa; computer number 172505.)

Using Maps

Maps must be used carefully because:

Several places often share the same name. For example, more than seventy localities in Ireland are named Kilmore.

The place-name on the map may not be spelled as expected.

Parish boundaries are seldom indicated, so you cannot assume that a locality lies within a certain parish unless the map specifically shows that it does.

Finding the Specific Place on the Map

To be most effective in researching your Irish ancestor, you must identify the place in Ireland where your ancestor lived. Search gazetteers, histories, family records, and other sources to learn all you can about the place where your ancestor lived, including:

The parish and county the place was in.

The civil district your ancestor's parish was in (if your ancestor lived in the place after 1864).

The name of the church where your ancestor was baptized or married.

The names of other townlands in the parish.

The names of nearby places, especially large cities.

The names of places where related ancestors lived.

Nearby geographical features, such as rivers and mountains.

This information will help you distinguish the place you are searching from other places of the same name.

See the “Gazetteers” section of this outline for additional information on locating places.

Finding Maps and Atlases

Collections of maps and atlases are available at numerous historical societies, county record offices, and public and university libraries. Major map collections in Ireland are housed at the Ordinance Survey Office.

Publications that can help you locate maps include:

Rural and City Maps. Typescript. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1985. (FHL book Reg 942 E73c; computer number 0357032.) This source lists British city maps not cited separately in the catalog.

Watt, Ian, comp. A Directory of U. K. Map Collections. 2d ed. London: McCarta, [1985?]. (FHL book Ref 942 E74w; computer number 0452346.) This source briefly describes the various British map repositories (including county record offices), their holdings, hours, and copying facilities.

You may purchase maps of Ireland through your local bookstore or from the following offices:

Ordnance Survey Office
Phoenix Park
Dublin 8
IRELAND (EIRE)

Ordnance Survey Office
Colby House
Stranmillis
Belfast BT9 5BJ
NORTHERN IRELAND

John Bartholomew & Sons, Ltd.
12 Duncan Street
Edinburgh EH9 1TA
SCOTLAND

The Family History Library has a growing collection of Irish maps and atlases. The library's Irish map collection includes:

Gardner, David E., Derek Harland, and Frank Smith, comps. A Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, Scale 1:300,000. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1964. (FHL book Ref 941.5 E3g; film 1,696,522 item 5; computer number 0048002.) This atlas includes an index to the places shown on its maps.

Ireland, Ordnance Survey. Irish Townland Survey, Scale 1:10,560. Ottawa: Ottawa Public Archives of Canada, 198-. (FHL fiche 6341635-66; computer number 0394562.) These maps are divided by county and include a grid map for each county and are not available for circulation.

Irish Townland Maps. Londonderry: Inner City Trust, 1989. (FHL fiche 6342438-53, 6343060-70; computer number 0511249.) Arranged by county, these maps show all Irish townlands within their respective parishes.

Irish County Maps Showing the Location of Churches. 4 vols. (One for each of the provinces of Munster, Leinster, Connaught, and Ulster.) Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1976-77. (FHL book Ref 929.1 G286gs ser. A no. 54-57 1976-77; fiche 6020286, 6020301-3; computer number 0025342.) This set of county maps marks the locations of churches in Ireland.

Mitchell, Brian. A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986. (FHL book Ref 941.5 E7m; computer number 0421741.) This book contains maps for each Irish county. The maps show civil parishes, baronies, and poor law unions.

Other map collections available at the Family History Library are listed in the Locality Section of the catalog under the following headings:

GREAT BRITAIN - MAPSIRELAND - MAPSIRELAND, [COUNTY] - MAPSIRELAND, [COUNTY], [CITY] - MAPS

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Version of Data: 6/8/2001]