In Ireland, people most readily identify themselves with their Parish. It is how school and religious systems are generally organised. Parishes often ignore the boundaries of Towns and Counties, making them more specific to the local Community. In the 19th Century, emigrants from Ireland usually named their Parish as their point of origin and Ireland Reaching Out seeks to connect their descendants back to that same place.
Remember, if at any time you are having trouble understanding where a Parish is or which one you might belong to, post a message on our Ireland XO global community Message Board HERE. We are here to help you.
Sometimes this can get a little confusing but it is really important to know and understand the differences between these two geographical areas. In Ireland, the differences between the TYPE of Parish are defined as follows:
This type of parish boundary was the basis upon which Griffith’s Valuation and other land and tax records were created in the 19th and 20th Century. There are about 2500 Civil Parishes in Ireland and they are seen as the administrative units of the State; firstly under the British and later under the Irish government. Like most genealogical sources, the Ireland XO website mostly operates on the basis of the Civil Parish.
These areas are a little more complicated! If you are looking for Roman Catholic or Church of Ireland (Protestant) records you will have to look at the Church Parish. As the latter was the established Church in Ireland for many years, the Civil Parish boundaries generally followed those of the Church of Ireland parishes. So in many ways, the Church of Ireland parishes are more easily understood. For Roman Catholic divisions in Ireland check out the Irish Episcopal Conference website.
Sometimes Roman Catholic (RC) and Civil Parish are the same – the RC Parish of Killererin, Co. Galway and its civil counterpart are the same geographical area. However, this is not always the case.
For example, the RC parish of Williamstown, Boyouanagh and Glenamaddy is in the Civil Parish of Templetogher. Another thing to consider is the fact that many RC Parishes have changed and/or amalgamated over the years and some have disappeared altogether. Many RC parishes in Ireland also share the same name which can add to the confusion.
To understand more about how a Parish reference can help you in your Irish ancestry research, check out our full explanatory guide:
If your parish is not mentioned on our website, it may mean that you should ‘convert’ to the Civil Parish in order to find out more about it in tax, land, birth, marriage and death records. You can do this by looking at a map of Church Parishes and then comparing to the Civil Parish Map. There are a number of resources available to help including John Grenham's Irish Places and Shane Wilson’s Townland Explorer which converts the Civil to Church parish and vice versa. More Parish Discovery Resources HERE
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