Church records digitised for onsite research at PRONI

Partial page from St Colman's Derry 1642 registers

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has digitised the registers from fifteen Church of Ireland and Methodists churches. Approximately 150 volumes have been digitised. The earliest dates from 1642 to 1703 and records the baptisms, marriages and burials performed at St Colman's, Derry Cathedral.

These digitised records are not online via the PRONI site. Previously, some of these registers were available on microfilm in the Search Room. Access to the digital copies will be a huge improvement for visiting researchers who until now, have had to scan worn and sometimes damaged film.

This development comes as a result of an ongoing project to digitise church records that are still in the custody of local churches. The digitisation is undertaken in-house by PRONI’s experienced reprographics technicians but the project is only possible because of the co-operation of churches who agree to deposit their records with the Archive on a temporary basis and agree to make them publically available in a controlled manner.

Noted below are the churches for which digitised records are now available to view onsite at PRONI.

Church of Ireland
St Columb’s Cathedral (CR1/113), Londonderry
Derryloran parish (CR1/114), Co. Tyrone
St. Anne’s Cathedral (CR1/115), Belfast
Drumcree parish (CR1/116), Co. Armagh
St. Andrew’s parish (CR1/117), Hope Street
St Mary Magdalene parish (CR1/118), Donegall Pass, Belfast
Dromore Catherdral (CR1/119), Dromore, Co. Down
St. Luke’s (CR1/120), Mullaghglass, Co. Armagh
St. George’s parish (CR1/121), High Street, Belfast
St Patrick’s parish (CR1/122), Ballymacarret, Belfast, Co. Down

Methodist
Ballymacarett Methodist Church/Newtownards Road Methodist Church/East Belfast Mission (CR6/18), Belfast
Hyde Park Methodist Church (CR6/19), Mallusk, Co. Antrim
Ligoniel Methodist Church (CR6/20), Belfast
Frederick Street Methodist Church (CR6/21), Belfast
Salem Methodist New Connexion Church (CR6/22), York Street, Belfast

Launch event: To mark the successful digitisation of these church records, and to highlight the church records held by PRONI, a formal launch has been organised for next Friday, 22 September. Both Dr Susan Hood, Librarian and Archivist at the Representative Church Body, Dublin and Rev Robin Roddie, Archivist at the Methodist Historical Society will both speak at the event. It's a free event, to be held 12:30pm to 1:30pm, at PRONI in Belfast's Titanic Boulevard, and you need to register.