Local history: early printed sources

Gazetteers

Gazetteers, such as Lewis’ Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837, and the Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland, 1846, (both available in PRONI) will provide you with a brief history of each parish and town.

Directories

Street and Trade directories, such as Pigot’s Directory of 1824 and the Belfast and Province of Ulster street directories from the mid-19th century (both available in PRONI), will contain brief histories of towns and lists of local gentry, businessmen and tradesmen, thereby providing a good starting point for exploring the social structure of a town.  

The Belfast and Province of Ulster street directories, 1852-1900 (with gaps) and earlier directories (1819-1950) which are held in PRONI will shortly be made available on the PRONI website in a fully searchable format.

Newspapers

Newspapers, some of which date back to the 18th century, are a rich source of information on local events, people, buildings, trade and much more.  An extensive collection can be accessed at the Belfast Central Library – Newspaper library .  Also, many public libraries hold copies of local/regional publications.

Parliamentary Papers

The Parliamentary Papers contain a wealth of local information on many aspects of 19th century life.  These include, for example, Reports of the Commissioners on the condition of the poor classes in Ireland, 1835 and 1836, and the Reports of the Commissioners on the state of the fairs and markets in Ireland, 1853-5.

A complete set of these is available in Queen’s University Library , or you can access them online at www.eppi.ac.uk/eppi/digbib .

Printed census reports

The printed census reports from 1821 provide, in statistical form, numbers of people in each townland and the number of houses inhabited and uninhabited.  This will indicate the growth and decline of population in local areas.  The 19th century reports are available in PRONI and in public libraries .

Ordnance Survey Memoirs

The Ordnance Survey (OS) Memoirs were compiled between 1830 and 1840 and were written descriptions, commentaries and reports intended to accompany the first Ordnance Survey maps. They largely cover the Province of Ulster and are a unique source of information about the northern half of Ireland before the Great Famine and at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

The OS Memoirs have all now been published and are available in PRONI and in public libraries .  For further details see Local History Leaflet 3 – Ordnance Survey Memoirs (43KB) .