Introduction to Civil Parish Reports for County Derry

The key to unlocking Irish family history origins is the knowledge of place.

From a family historian’s perspective, the most effective way to view Ireland is as a country
that is subdivided into 32 counties, which in turn are subdivided into 2,508 civil parishes, and
which in turn are subdivided into 60,462 townlands.

Many record sources of value, both civil and church, to family historians were compiled and
recorded by parish. By mid-19th century, County Derry was subdivided into 46 civil parishes.
Realistic genealogical research, in the absence of indexes and databases, generally requires
knowledge of the parish in which your ancestor lived.

Each parish report describes and locates the parish and details the major record sources for
that parish: Church Registers, their religious denomination and commencement dates;
Graveyards and their location in mid-19 th century; and Census Returns and Census Substitutes
dating from 1663 to 1911.

In addition, the Diocese of Derry extended into Inishowen and the Finn Valley in County
Donegal and into north and west Tyrone as far south as Omagh. This larger area, i.e. County
and Diocese of Derry, was effectively the catchment area for people departing Derry port for
a new life in North America and further afield.

In many instances an immigrant address of ‘Londonderry’ or ‘Derry’ of an ancestor can refer
to the wider northwest, i.e. counties Derry, Donegal and Tyrone. Hence ‘Derry’ or
‘Londonderry’ as a place of origin can refer to the city, the county or port of departure.
Hopefully these parish reports will assist researchers fine-tune their selection of record
sources to examine in researching their family history.

Note:
Civil parishes of County Donegal within Diocese of Derry are Burt, Clonca, Clonleigh,
Clonmany, Culdaff, Desertegny, Donagh, Donaghmore, Fahan Lower, Fahan Upper, Inch,
Minitiaghs or Barr of Inch, Moville Lower, Moville Upper, Muff and Urney.

Civil parishes of County Tyrone within Diocese of Derry are Arboe, Ardstraw, Artrea,
Ballinderry, Bodoney Lower, Bodoney Upper, Camus, Cappagh, Derryloran, Donaghedy,
Drumragh, Leckpatrick, Lissan, Longfield East, Longfield West, Tamlaght, Termonamongan
and Urney.