On Saturday 17 November, Sean Lysaght, author and poet officially launched the 2019 Cultural Programme for The North Mayo Heritage Centre. Commenting on the programme, Sean said ‘I was delighted to see how the energy and diversity of this programme was put together, it’s great to see an estate such as Enniscoe and a centre like the North Mayo Heritage Centre developing a series of events and exhibitions which sit so well together and cater for visitors both near and far’.

By the end of this year the North Mayo Heritage Centre will have recorded its 20,000 visitor up from just 7,500 in 2016. Hugh Trayer, Manager of the centre noted ‘The North Mayo Heritage Centre is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of the region. By constantly delivering quality events and exhibitions, visitor numbers have increased. The centre is now a proven economic driver within this rural and regional community’.

The first exhibition of 2018 titled ‘Another Place … a Celebration of Mayo Writers’ will begin on 1 March and run until 26 April. The writers of Mayo are going through something of a renaissance from children’s literature to adult fiction to poetry and prose. This exhibition will be a celebration of seventeen current Mayo authors.

Later in the year the centre will host an exhibition titled ‘Enniscoe People’. This exhibition has been researched and curated by the centre with Enniscoe House. ‘I am particularly pleased to see this exhibition come about’, said Susan Kellett (owner of Enniscoe House), ‘the house has been in the same family for thirteen generations and in that time it has become part of the fabric of North Mayo. Generations of families have been associated with the house, the gardens or on the land. This exhibition will bring together many of the names, faces and memories’.

Please click on the link below to bring you to the Cultural Programme 2019(1)

The cover of the programme is a photograph taken on the roof of Enniscoe House, where, carved in lead are some of the names of the people who have worked on the estate over the years. One such name is that of Tom Kelly who carved his name on the 16/12/1977. Tom was presented with a framed print of the cover by Susan Kellett ‘She didn’t even dock my wages when I wrote it back then’ he commented. His son, Peter continues to work with the estate.

New records for Co. Sligo

We are pleased to announce that Sligo Heritage and Genealogy Society have added over 6,000 civil birth records to its database at www.sligo.rootsireland.ie

Ballymote Civil Records, 1864-1918 (6,419 records) 

Ballymote Castle

As these are civil birth records, they may provide, in some cases, additional information to that included on the child’s baptismal record.

For a full list of sources for Co. Sligo please click here

To search these records, go to sligo.rootsireland.ie and select ‘Ballymote (Civil Parish / District )’ from the ‘Parish / District’ drop drop down list. Login and Subscribe if required.

 

We are pleased to announce that Irish Midlands Ancestry has added over 6000 records to its databases including the following:

 

Crimean War Subscribers 1855

Eglish 1840 Census

Missing Friends from Laois 1835-1918

Missing Friends from Offaly 1835-1876

Offaly RC Rahan Baptisms 1900-1905

Protestant Parishioners Tullamore 1802

 

St Carthage’s Church, Killina

 

For a full list of sources for Co. Offaly please click here and for Co. Laois please click here

To search these records, go to offaly.rootsireland.ie or laois.rootsireland.ie and select Census Substitutes or Births, and select the ‘Source’ or ‘Parish / District’ from the drop down list. Login and Subscribe if required.

A new issue of Swords Voices has just been published, marking twenty-five years of this popular publication. Edited by Bernadette Marks of the Swords Historical Society, it is packed with old photographs, stories of life in Swords, County Dublin, in days gone by, and much more. For details on how to purchase a copy, email swordsheritage@gmail.com.

Back issues are also available upon request.

Well done to all at the East Galway Family History Society in Woodford, County Galway,  Dr Paul Rondelez, Sliabh Aughty Furnace Project for reintroducing a lost craft of making bloomery iron using bog/iron ore and charcoal, the first time that this has happened in Ireland in almost 250 years. Making history also was Monica Hynes, Manager of the East Galway Family History Society, who became the first Irish female smelter in recorded history!

Woodford village and its smelting initiative was featured recently on the popular RTÉ programme, ‘Nationwide’, which you can watch at the link below.

https://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/nationwide-21/10954384/

 

 

Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors  – Now Available!

 

Ulster Historical Foundation is pleased to announce that the new edition of Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors is now in stock!

Priced at just £19.99 (plus P&P) this new edition of Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors is a massively expanded version of the first volume, running to over 600 pages – more than double the length of the original.

A ‘must have’ resource for Irish family history

More detailed information is included on the importance of church and land records and new chapters explore the value of records relating to charitable bodies, fraternal organisations and businesses. There is also a discussion of potential sources of information on emigration. A set of parish maps for each county in Ulster has been included and along with a listing of more than 600 places in the province giving the parish location.

Whether your ancestors are of English, Scottish or Gaelic Irish background, whether their religious affiliation was Episcopalian, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic or other, whether they were farmers, merchants or labourers, this volume will be of enormous value to anyone wishing to find out more about their Ulster roots.

To order the book, please go to this link:

Researching Scots-Irish Ancestors: The Essential Genealogical Guide to Early Modern Ulster, 1600–1800 (Second Edition)

A new book by Brian Mitchell of our Derry Centre, Foyle Maritime Memories; Photographs from the Bigger and McDonald Collection 1927-1939, was published recently by Colourpoint Books. 

Through photographs taken by the Derry Standard newspaper, prior to the Second World War, this book explores Derry and Lough Foyle’s maritime history; the key themes being emigration, transatlantic tourism and the activities of the Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners – of its divers, dredger Hercules, graving dock, shipyard and launch T.F. Cooke. This book illustrates the vitality and importance of Derry’s north Atlantic outlook.

 

 

It captures, for example, the arrival of General Balbo and his ‘Italian Transatlantic Air Armada’ of twenty-four seaplanes on the Foyle on Sunday 2 July 1933 on their way to Chicago’s World Fair.

 The year before, Derry had been the centre of another big trans-Atlantic news story that had captured the world’s imagination: the arrival of Amelia Earhart on Saturday 21^st May 1932, the first women to fly the Atlantic solo, at Robert Gallagher’s farm at Ballyarnet. This event is captured in six pages of photographs.

SPECIAL OFFER ON ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS – 25% off for a limited time only!

Get a 12 month subscription for RootsIreland with 25% off from 3 September to 17 September 2018*

To obtain this offer just go to the following link and login using your existing RootsIreland login details: http://www.rootsireland.ie. If you currently have a subscription, click My Account, My Subscription and Start a New Subscription. The special deal subscription will then begin once your current subscription runs out.

If you have any questions please check our Help section and if this does not provide an answer, then you may contact us or one of the county centres. You can check what is available on our site for each county here.

*Offer applies from 3 September 2018 to 12 midnight Irish time on 17 September 2018 only. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.

New records for Co. Dublin (North)

St Colmcille’s Church, Swords

We are pleased to announce that Fingal Genealogy have added 1,000 gravestone inscription records to its database at www.dublinnorth.rootsireland.ie including the following :

St Colmcille’s, Swords (Roman Catholic)
St Columba’s, Swords (Church of Ireland)

For a full list of sources for Co. Dublin (North) please click here

To search these records, go to dublinnorth.rootsireland.ie and select the ‘Parish / District’ from the drop down list. Login and Subscribe if required.

New records for East Galway

We are pleased to announce that East Galway Family History Society have added 38,000 records to its database at www.galwayeast.rootsireland.ie as follows:

Ballygar (RC): Baptisms, 1804-1897 Kilmacduagh (RC): Baptisms, 1848-1872

Leitrim (RC): Baptisms, 1815-1918

Portumna (RC): Baptisms, 1830-1917

Tynagh (RC): Baptisms, 1816-1917

 

St Brigid’s Roman Catholic Church, Portumna, County Galway

 

For a full list of sources for East Galway please click here

To search these records, go to eastgalway.rootsireland.ie and select the ‘Parish / District’ from the drop down list. Login and Subscribe if required.