STREET DIRECTORIES
Search hints & tips
Using street directories
To carry out a search, input the search criteria in the appropriate field(s) and click on the Search button.
Street Directories can be searched for a keyword or phrase with the option of restricting the search to a particular directory, section, locale or date range. Not all of these options will be available at all times or in all combinations - for example if you select a directory you will not be able to select a date range - and any options that are unavailable will be unselectable.
Search fields
Keywords
Enter the word or phrase you wish to search for, for example a name, street name, profession etc.. Searches are case-insensitive and include a degree of non-exactness to take account of different spellings, misprints and so on. If you wish, you may also choose to search for pages containing all the words you enter, any of the words you enter or the exact phrase that you enter.Directory
Select the specific street directory you wish to search within.Section
From the drop down menu, select the specific section you wish to search, either within a selected directory or within all directories. Note that each directory contains a different set of sections and some directories may contain no specific sections at all. If you do not specify this field the search will include all sections. The sections are:- Belfast descriptions and boards (an historical account of Belfast and details of local institutions and societies)
- Belfast alphabetical directory
- Belfast street directory - arrangement of names by street Search
- Village directory - inhabitants in the suburbs of Belfast eg Dunmurry, Whiteabbey, Newtownbreda, Glengormly, Jordanstown, Dundonald
- Ballymacarrett directory - some directories list the inhabitants of Ballymacarrett (now in east Belfast) separately
- Country residents - a list of the gentry living in the outskirts of Belfast
- Belfast professions and trades - arrangement of names by professions and trades
- Provincial directory - counties, and towns and villages
- Advertisements
- Miscellaneous - includes general indexes and indexes of streets
Locale
From the drop down menu, select the specific locale (town, village or county) you wish to search, either within your selected directory or within all directories. Note that each directory contains a different subset of locales, and some directories may contain no specific locales at all. If you do not specify this field the search will include all locales. If you are searching for entries in a particular town or village, do not search under 'county'.From Year
Select the start year of the date range you wish to search within. If you do not specify this field, the search will extend back to the earliest directory.Until Year
Select the end year of the date range you wish to search within. If you do not specify this field, the search will extend up to the most recent directory.Display and order of results
If you search using a keyword or keywords, the order of teh search results displayed will be determined by the frequency that the search term occurs within that page and by the proximity of matching terms to each other in a page. For example, if you search for 'Gibson' then pages containing multiple references to the word 'Gibson' will appear higher in the search results than pages where the word appears only once.If you do not enter a keyword, search results will be presented in date and page order. In this way you may browse through the pages of a directory or selection of directories in the proper order.
