Irish Records Part 2: Census Records and Parish Records (and Facebook Groups!)

In my previous post, “How to Find Irish Genealogy Records, Part 1: Civil Records”, I discussed the importance of determining which civil registration district your Irish ancestors are from, and how to use this information to find civil records of their birth, marriage, or death. In part 2, I’ll be exploring Irish census records (along with a couple census substitute options: the Griffith’s Valuation and the Tithe Applotment Books) as well as parish records.

Background image: “Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, Ireland” via flickr user Giuseppe Milo, CC 2.0.

Background image: “Cliffs of Moher, Liscannor, Ireland” via flickr user Giuseppe Milo, CC 2.0.

I’ve also included a summary of Irish genealogy Facebook pages and groups (for generic research and by specific county or location). I love connecting with other researchers, and people in these groups can often help guide you in the right direction or offer a new way of looking at things. You may even find relatives or those researching the same surnames (be sure to try The Irish Surname Registry FB group).

We can’t talk about Ireland’s genealogy records without acknowledgement of the incredible loss that occurred in 1922, when the Public Records Office (PRO) became a casualty of the Irish Civil War. In April of 1922, a group of Irish Republican Army (IRA) militants, opposed to the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty signed following the Irish War of Independence against Britain, took hold of the Four Courts buildings, where the PRO was located. This group of Anti-Treatists mostly wanted an Ireland that was independent, and not a domain of the British government (like Canada is today). They demanded a constitution that did not require it’s government to swear an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. And though the Provisional Government of Ireland attempted to remove this requirement through negotiations with the British, they failed.

In June of 1922, an explosion (possibly of stored ammunition) destroyed the Public Records Office of Ireland (PROI) in the Four Courts buildings in Dublin, Ireland, during the Battle of Dublin and the start of the Irish Civil War. Centuries worth of…

In June of 1922, an explosion (possibly of stored ammunition) destroyed the Public Records Office of Ireland (PROI) in the Four Courts buildings in Dublin, Ireland, during the Battle of Dublin and the start of the Irish Civil War. Centuries worth of Ireland’s historical records were lost in this event. Flickr user: National Library of Ireland. No known copyright restrictions.

Under threat of invasion from the British, the Provisional Government of Ireland used their National Army, along with weapons supplied by the British, to begin a battle against the Anti-Treaty IRA group at the Four Courts. At some point during this fight, an explosion and fire would destroy the Public Records Office, though which side is to blame - and what exactly happened - remains a controversial subject. Nonetheless, a remarkable amount of Irish records were lost, and what followed would become the Irish Civil War.       

What was destroyed? Unfortunately, “census records for the whole of the 19th century going back to the first in 1821 were incinerated. Chancery records, detailing British rule in Ireland going back to the 14th century and grants of land by the crown, were also destroyed along with thousands of wills and title deeds. The records of various chief secretaries to Ireland and centuries of Church of Ireland parish registers vanished in the fire.” (Ronan McGreevy for The Irish Times, 5 Dec 2019) 

The loss, however, is not insurmountable. There are records that survived the fire, as well as records that were never in harm's way. There are efforts to digitally rebuild what was lost through Trinity College’s Beyond 2022 project, which aims to be available to the public on the 100th anniversary of the fire, June 30, 2022. And there are a variety of substitutes that can be used in place of the missing information.

With this knowledge in mind, let’s explore the various census records (and substitutes), and church records available to those of us researching our Irish ancestors.


Irish Census Records

The first place you should check for census records is The National Archives of Ireland which holds the 1901 and 1911 census returns for all 32 counties (pre-partition), and it’s all available online at no cost! Amazing. You can browse these records by place (Year > County > DED > Townland or Streets) or search the census records with many filter options. Results should return both a transcription and a PDF image of the scan.    

Tips: If your ancestor doesn’t appear on the census, check returns of institutions from boarding schools or asylums to prisons or hospitals. If you think they may have emigrated before the census, search for family members that may have stayed behind. 

For all other available census years (1821, 1831, 1841, 1851), only fragments of each have survived, largely in part due to the PRO fire.

Census Year What Survived
1821 Parts of Cavan, Fermanagh, Galway, King’s (Offaly), Meath counties. Also mentioned: Antrim, Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, Mayo.
1831 Parts of Londonderry (Derry)
1841 Killeshandra, County Cavan. (National Archives also say Cork, Fermanagh, and Waterford).
1851 Parts of County Antrim. (N.A. also lists Fermanagh, Belfast city, one ward only, and Dublin City, index to heads of household only).

(Data in above chart from Findmypast and National Archives)

What remains can also be searched at The National Archives and is also available (free with registration) on both FamilySearch and FindMyPast: 

According to The National Archives, “the original census returns for 1861 and 1871 were destroyed shortly after the censuses were taken. Those for 1881 and 1891 were pulped during the First World War, probably because of the paper shortage.” (census.nationalarchives.ie)

Wait, did the Irish government really destroy the 1861 and 1871 census on purpose? Why? According to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO) it was a matter of early public data privacy protection,  with the records destroyed to “protect confidentiality and to ensure that ‘returns should not be used for the gratification of curiosity”, as they had seen done before by the British Government. Though “in England and Wales the data had been transcribed into census enumerators' books for future preservation, before the original household returns for those countries were destroyed. Unfortunately, no such policy had been followed in Ireland.” (cso.ie)

No census was taken in 1921 due to the War of Independence. There was a census taken in 1926, the first taken by the Irish Free State, and it should be released to the public in January of 2027. 

Copies of some records are also held at the Public Records Office for Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI), but no valuable census data online from what I can tell.


Census Substitutes

We can look at land surveys, tax records, and other data to fill in the gaps from missing census records. A few of these sources include the Griffith’s Valuation, the Revision Books, and the Tithe Applotment Books.




Griffith’s Valuation of Ireland

Griffith’s Valuation was a national survey from 1848 to 1864 for all 32 counties, to determine the property and land value across all of Ireland, so they could properly assess the taxes (or “poor rate”) that supported the poor within each Poor Law Union. It was conducted by Ireland’s Valuation Office, led by it’s Commissioner at the time, Richard Griffith. These tenement valuations were organized by county, and took over a decade to complete. They will not list the whole family living in a building, but only the “occupier”, which is typically the head of household, and the “lessor”, or the landlord.   

These records are available to search online, for free, on Ask About Ireland. They are also on the following sites for free with registration:

Note that the Ask About Ireland website uses maps from a later time period, while Find My Past uses the original maps that correspond with the original valuations. I like the in-depth explanation by John Grenham on Irish Ancestors about this, Griffith’s Valuation Online.     

Also worth mentioning are the Valuation Office Revision Books (or “Cancellation” Books), which are copies of the Griffith’s Valuation records that recorded changes over the years, from ownership or occupancy to changes in buildings, size of the land, or values of the buildings or land. They are available for free online for Northern Ireland at PRONI for the years 1864 through 1933. For Ireland, it’s a bit more difficult to access these records. You can actually visit Ireland and go to the Valuation Office to see the records in person (when they are opened to the public), or order copies of the book(s) you need from Timeline.ie assuming you have confirmed knowledge of your ancestor’s home address.



Tithe Applotment Books

The Tithe Applotment Books show a record of the taxes paid to the Church of Ireland from anyone that owned land in agricultural areas, or rented farm lands, from mostly 1823 - 1838. These records do not show urban areas like cities or towns. Records only show the head of household, not other members of the family.  Records are available online, for free:  


Church Records

Religious denominations in Ireland’s history include Roman Catholic (RC), Church of Ireland (COI), Irish Church, Church of England, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Jewish, Society of Friends, Lutheran, and many more. Since civil registration in Ireland didn’t start until 1864, church records may be the only record of your ancestor’s life prior to that time. They may include baptism records, marriage records, and sometimes burial records. You may also find other types of records, like meeting notes or marriage banns. 

St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland), in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia user: JohnArmagh, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is another St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Amagh, that belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, on a nearby hill.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Church of Ireland), in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Wikipedia user: JohnArmagh, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is another St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Amagh, that belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, on a nearby hill.

The Church of Ireland (COI) was the Established Church, or State Church, from 1536 through 1870. You may see these referred to as “Anglican” records. As they were the official church, they may hold records for many that were of other religions, and should be searched regardless of your ancestor’s religious affiliations. 

Tip: Looking for marriage records? Remember marriages, even today, often take place near the bride’s home, or near the family of the bride.

Generally records were kept at the individual parish level, though the Church of Ireland considered the records of their parishes as state property. In 1876 they ordered records to be sent to the Public Records Office (PRO), which would later be destroyed in 1922 during the start of the Irish Civil War. Fortunately some records were kept by local parishes, and some parishes created transcripts or copies before sending the originals to the domed Public Record Office.   

Note that in Ireland, a “Civil Parish” is an administrative form of land division, and not related to religion (though the Church of Ireland generally used these boundaries, sometimes combining multiple civil parish areas into a union). However you can use your ancestor’s location in a civil parish to cross-reference other maps and church locations, to try and figure out which church your ancestors may have attended. A few sites that help you do this include swilson.info and John Grenham’s Irish Ancestors.