Mayo North Heritage Centre, one of the Irish Family History Foundation's network of genealogy research services across the island, has a brand-new website. Memorably enough, it's called www.northmayogenealogy.com, and you might just get the gist that it covers the northern part of the county.
During much of the year (April to November),the Centre, which is located in the grounds of Enniscoe House about 20km from Ballina, has a dual role. In addition to its genealogy service, which is open all year for advice as well as commissioned research, the centre is home to a museum of domestic and agricultural artefacts. Visitors can also enjoy strolls around ornamental gardens and take lovely woodland walks with views of Lough Conn and Mount Nephin. There's also a tea room to use when the ancestral research proves to be thirsty work, and a blacksmith's forge. Details of all these extra facilities are available on the new site.
So, too, are some handy parish maps identifying the area covered by Mayo North Heritage Centre as well as those of the Ballinrobe-based Mayo South Family History Centre. Details of the Roman Catholic baptism and marriage records held by the centre are also broken down by parish, giving the date of surviving registers. A quick glance at the relatively late start date of these records reflects the challenge faced by many researchers with Mayo heritage.
Centre Researcher Brendan Walsh tells me there are plans to extend the information available on the new site, but these won't be developed in the short term. In the meantime, the aim is to concentrate on letting family historians know the Centre has a new online presence. So, if you, or someone you know, has ancestors from the North of Mayo, be sure to make a note of the new address.