21/07/2025
Church records or parish records are among the most useful records when researching your family tree. They document baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. The majority date from the 1800s onwards, with a small number dating back to as early as the 1600s. Civil registration of all births, deaths and marriages was legally required from 1864 onwards (though non-Catholic marriages were registered from 1845), and so church records are of particular importance for the period before civil registration.
What is a parish?
Towards the end of the early medieval period, Ireland was divided into ecclesiastical units called parishes, each made up of several townlands. These were also used as defined civil (or government) administrative territories. The parish boundaries regularly ignore the boundaries of towns and counties and there is some overlap between Northern Ireland and the border counties.
Over time, the boundaries of civil parishes and some ecclesiastical parishes came to differ. In the past, Church of Ireland (Anglican) parishes tended to correspond with civil parishes and bear the same names. However, the present Church of Ireland parishes do not correspond precisely with those in the past. This is because some new Church of Ireland parishes were carved out of existing parishes in the 18th and 19th centuries, while other parishes were combined to form new parishes.
Normally, the churches in each civil parish represent more than one religious denomination.
Before the introduction of the penal laws in the 17th century, the territories of the Roman Catholic parishes corresponded to the civil parishes, but after the laws were eased in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, new parishes were formed to adapt to changes in population centres. Since then, Catholic parishes have continued to be redefined. The names sometimes also changed over time, while some Catholic parishes share the same names.
Protestants who did not align with the Church of Ireland are sometimes referred to as “dissenters” or “non-conformists” in the records. These groups, which include Presbyterians, Methodists, Quakers and others, do not have a parish structure. For example, a number of Methodist chapels in a particular area were usually grouped together in what was known as a “circuit”.
Before starting your research, bear in mind that whatever the religious persuasion of your ancestor, it may be worth viewing the Church of Ireland parish registers. This is because the Church of Ireland held the status of the “established” church until 1869, when it was disestablished. The penal laws severely restricted the religious freedoms of other churches. Therefore, the Church of Ireland parish registers frequently record individuals of different denominations (especially Protestant dissenters) before 1870 and often continued to do so for burials after this date.
If your ancestors came from the six counties of the North, you may be interested in reading our comprehensive guide to church records for this region: https://irishheritagenews.ie/a-guide-to-northern-irelands-church-records/
