County Down Archives and Libraries

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Archives[edit | edit source]

Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland, local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom. Their functions include planning, waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. Therefore, these districts do not manage archives and libraries.[1]

Libraries[edit | edit source]

Cultural Heritage Service Library, Downpatrick
Market Street
Downpatrick
BT30 6LZ
Northern Ireland

Telephone: 028 4433 3980 / 028 4461 2895
Email: localstudies.down@librariesni.org.uk
HERITAGE GALLERY DOWNPATRICK LIBRARY

The Cultural Heritage Gallery in Downpatrick Library holds the largest Heritage collection in County Down. The Gallery in holds a large reference collection of volumes covering all aspects of life in County Downm including Ordnance Survey, Parish Memoirs compiled in the 1830s, and a selection of specialized and antiquarian books for family

history research including street directories, Griffith’s Valuation, Gravestone Inscriptions, Ireland’s Memorial Records and Grand Jury Records of the County administration prior to 1898. These and Grand Warrants contain information about work ordered to be done by the Grand Jury on roads, bridges and jails and about constabulary duties in the counties.

Cultural Heritage Service Library, Newry
Newry City Library
79 Hill Street
Newry BT34 1DG
Northern Ireland

Phone: 028 3026 4683
Email: newry.heritage@librariesni.org.uk
HERITAGE COLLECTION NEWRY CITY LIBRARY Leaflet

The collection in Newry City Library includes books on Irish history, local studies and family history. Also available are historical maps of Counties Down and Armagh covering the County series (1830s to 1950s) and a selection of local newspapers on microfilm.
The Crossle Papers archive of handwritten notebooks and scrapbooks dates from the early 1900s and was compiled from information in local newspapers. Although the notebooks were originally compiled for personal use rather than for formal research purposes, they do contain valuable information about prominent families in the Newry area. the Francis Crossle Manuscript Collection on the Newry area, including some 200 notebooks compiled by Dr. Crossle containing histories of families in the Newry area.

Irish & Local Studies Collection
Linen Hall Library
17 Donegall Square North
Belfast
BT1 5GB
Northern Ireland

Telephone: +44 (0)28 9032 1707
Email: info@linenhall.com
Website

Main library in Belfast containing many genealogical records for the area including County Down. The Linen Hall has fantastic resources to support genealogy and the study of family histories attracting researchers locally and from around the world. From ‘how to’ guides for those beginning their genealogy journey, to gravestone inscriptions, military lists, passenger lists, lists of clergy, and information on surnames, place-names and street directories. [2]

Randal Gill Library
The North of Ireland Family History Society
NIFHS Branches
Website
Clans, Biographies, Family Trees and Names
Family Trees and Books about Families

Many Members contribute to our Transcribing and Indexing Projects. Some compilations of records, as books or CDs, are available in our online Shop. The Transcribed Records fall into the categories: Church Records, Graveyard Records and Newspaper Records. Many of these are only available in the Library.

Local libraries may have collections relating to families--newspaper clippings, donated family histories, published local histories, not ubiquitous but worth checking. The largest library in a district might serve some archive functions.

Museums[edit | edit source]

Newry and Mourne Museum
Bagenal's Castle
Castle Street
Newry County Down BT34 2BY
Northern Ireland

Telephone: 028 3031 3182/07554 772 523
Email: museum@nmandd.org
Website
Facebook

The Museum collects, preserves, and interprets the material relating to the culture, heritage, and history of Newry and Mourne. Facilities include a Reading Room for local and family history research.

North Down Museum
Town Hall
Castle Park Avenue
Bangor BT20 4BT UK

Telephone: 028 9127 1200
Email: museum@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
Website
War Time Records

Civil Registration Offices[edit | edit source]

  • How duplicate certificates are obtained has changed. These can no longer be issued from district registration offices.
  • All birth records from 1864 to 100 years ago have been digitized and are free to view and download at IrishGenealogy.ie. Some of the later marriage and death records can also be downloaded from this site.
  • An index of Ireland Civil Registration -including births, 1864-1958, marriages, 1845-1958, and deaths, 1864-1958 - is available online at FamilySearch's Ireland Civil Registration Indexes, 1845-1958 (An index of Ireland civil registration including 1864-1958 births, 1845-1958 marriages, and 1864-1958 deaths, but excluding index records for Northern Ireland after its creation in 1922.)
  • The General Register Office, Northern Ireland (GRONI) provides an online service for searching and ordering civil registration records. To search the records online, you must register for an account.

Websites[edit | edit source]

Emerald Ancestors provides instant access to one of the largest collections of Northern Ireland genealogy records available, containing birth, marriage, death and census records for over 1.5 million Irish ancestors. Our extensive Ulster ancestry database covers Irish Family records from civil registration indexes, church registers and historical sources in Counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry & Tyrone.
  • Ulster Historical Foundation
Bradley Thallon House
Unit 44D, Kiltonga Estate
Belfast Road, Newtownards
BT23 4TJ
Northern Ireland


Telephone: +44 (028) 91 812073
Email: enquiry@uhf.org.uk

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ "Local government in Northern Ireland", in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_Northern_Ireland, accessed 31 March 2023.
  2. ↑ "Irish and Local Studies", at Linen Hall, https://www.linenhall.com/collections/irish-local-studies/, accessed 30 March 2023.

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