Wednesday 16 December 2015

Gifts for the Northern Irish genealogist in your life

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland
were written in the 1830s
With the final date of posting for Christmas delivery looming, here are some last minute ideas for Christmas gifts for family historians with Northern Ireland connections.

BooksIreland, the Ulster Historical Foundation's online bookstore, is offering all volumes of the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Irelandcollection at half price. I love these books, and have a good few volumes on my bookshelf despite not having any family connections with the counties they cover: Antrim, Armagh, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, LondonDerry and Tyrone. An extra volume – South Ulster – covers mostly Cavan and Monaghan but also includes parishes from Sligo, Leitrim and Louth.

The surveyors who wrote these memoirs recorded details of the landscape, buildings and monuments, population, employment and local habits of dress, food and customs. Some volumes, particularly those for Antrim and LondonDerry, can contain names. They were all written in the 1830s.

Forty-one volumes are now available with a 50%  discount, bringing prices down to £5, £4.25 or £3.75

Another great gift idea from BooksIreland for your family historian (or any historian, come to that) is a dvd of An Independent People: The Story of Ulster's Presbyterians. This critically-acclaimed series was originally commissioned and broadcast by BBC Northern Ireland television with support from the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund.

The DVD is priced at £15.99.


The North of Ireland Family History Society has some ideas for gifts, too, including a Christmas bundle of three publications (one book and two CDs) related to the graveyards of Carnmoney Parish Church (Church of the Holy Evangelists) in Co. Antrim.

The publications contain gravestone inscriptions, maps, war grave memorials, a place-name index, finding aids and thousands of names and as a bundle are offered at £20.

Alternatively, what about one of the Society's handy A5  guides to genealogy research in individual counties? The Researching your ancestors in the North of Ireland range includes booklets on County Cavan, County Monaghan and, the newest, County Tyrone. Each consists of 40+ pages and costs £6.

You'll find details of these items in the Society's online shop.