Before your visit to PRONI, particularly if it is your first time, it may be useful to do some groundwork to get the most out of your research on-site. This can include gathering information ahead of time, exploring the information available on this website and establishing what sources other than PRONI may be of use to you. Learn about getting started below.
Gathering information
If you are mainly coming to PRONI to trace your family tree, there are a few steps you can take at home to plan and optimise your research. This can include:
- gathering information about your family from relatives
- checking if there may be any useful family documents and photographs
- focusing on dates of births, marriages and deaths
- noting down any relevant names, dates and places
If you live overseas you could also check for emigration records or other evidence in the country the Irish emigrants moved to, such as:
- passenger lists
- naturalisation records
- cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions (to find out where the family came from in Ireland)
Geographical boundaries
PRONI sources for family history will often make specific references to geographical terms including:
- Counties
- Baronies (historical administrative areas between the size of a county and a parish)
- Parishes
- Townlands
Townlands.ie provides a full list of every county in Ireland and breaks each one down into its smaller historical divisions. The site is also searchable and includes visual maps of the geographical areas, making it easy to compare historical boundaries with modern geography when working with PRONI records.
Exploring the PRONI Website
Your first visit to PRONI can be daunting, which is why we have developed our website to guide you ahead of time. Taking some time to have look through our guidance can help to get you on the right track and narrow your focus during your visit.
Explore Archives Online
The Explore Archives Online tab on our navigation bar is where you will find all our searchable applications and be able to access digitised records. This section of the website is also broken down by topic. This can help you with:
- gathering references of PRONI records you would like to see on-site
- refining your orders to records you have not been able to view online
- building a roadmap for your research as a whole
PRONI Guide Library
Our PRONI Guide Library can be found under the Resources and Learning tab and can help you to:
- gather general but vital information (e.g. distinctions between parishes, dioceses and baronies)
- understand the scope PRONI’s holdings and how they are arranged
- learn what records may be held by other archives or public bodies
The guide library contains links to pre-filtered lists of our guides by topic. You can also navigate from here to all of our publications and refine by publication type or date.
Records PRONI does not hold
Before your research visit to PRONI, it can be helpful to know what records we hold and what records you may be able to access elsewhere. A lot of this information can be found in our PRONI Guide Library, but see below for some of the most common queries.
Birth, death and marriage certificates - for physical copies contact GRONI
Whilst you can access a wealth of relevant records for your family research in PRONI, we do not hold copies of birth, marriage or death certificates. If you are looking to access these, you may wish to consult the General Register Office of Northern Ireland (GRONI) who hold:
- Registers of births and deaths in Northern Ireland from 1864 onwards
- Marriage certificates from 1845 onwards (1864 onwards for Roman Catholic marriages)
You can search the registry indexes and access some scanned certificates using our GRONI terminals available in the PRONI Search Room. However, to request copies of the certificates, you will need to send a request by contacting GRONI using the details below:
Address:
General Register Office for Northern Ireland,
NISRA,
Colby House,
Stranmillis Court,
Belfast,
BT9 5RR
- Telephone (NI): 0300 200 7890
- Telephone (elsewhere): 028 9151 310
- Email: gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk
For further information on GRONI holdings, you can visit their website.
Limited availability of post 2009 wills - visit the Probate Service
We have extensive holdings of wills, grant of probate books and admin books in PRONI. However, these holdings only run up until a certain point and vary depending on the original registry.
A comprehensive list of our holdings is below:
| District Registry | Wills/Letters of Administration | Grant books and Admin books | Notes |
| Armagh | 1901-September 1921 | 1901-September 1921 | Registry office dissolved from September 1921 |
| Belfast | 1900-December 2009 | 1900-December 2004 | Books from 2005 onwards are with the Probate Office |
| Derry/Londonderry | 1900-December 2012 | 1900-December 2012 | 2013 onwards Probate Office |
| Donegal | 1900-September 1921 | Not held by PRONI |
If you wish to access wills probated later than these dates, we would suggest contacting the Royal Courts of Justice for Belfast using the details below:
Address:
Royal Courts of Justice,
Probate Office,
Chichester Street,
Belfast,
BT1 3JF
- Telephone: 028 9032 8594
- Email: probate@courtsni.gov.uk
Post 1920 land and property records
PRONI holds historical land registry records for Northern Ireland, only dating until around the 1920s. Folio numbers as provided by Land Registry will not help you identify a property in our holdings as they pre-date the current folio numbering system.
Land and property records from the 1920s onwards are usually held by Land and Property Services (LPS). If you wish to access these records, we recommend contacting LPS using the details below:
Address:
Lanyon Plaza Town Parks 3LP,
7 Lanyon Place,
Belfast BT1
- Email: customerinformation.landregistration@dfpni.gov.uk
- Telephone: 0300 200 7801