Wednesday 9 November 2022

Big updates to the Irish Registry of Deeds Index Project

Just six weeks on from celebrating the main index reaching a total of half a million entries, the volunteer-managed Registry of Deeds Index Project has received another update over the last few days. It sees the main index grow to a new total of 510,922 entries, transcribed from 53,114 memorials of deeds. The Townland and Grantor Indexes have been updated.

A random sample from the Townland Index freely available
on FamilySearch. Click for enlarged and zoomable view.

A huge update of nearly 55,000 entries has also been made to the Townland Index. As part of this, the earliest three volumes (1708–1820) of townland indexes for County Antrim have been fully transcribed, as have the earliest two volumes (1708–1810) for County Down. 

These transcriptions include Belfast from 1708 to 1820.

"This recent bundle of transcriptions was an enormous task since many of these early pages were severely smudged," explains Project founder and manager Nick Reddan FIGRS. 

"A great deal of detective work was required to recreate the text. "Moreover, during this work, more than 900 errors were found in the original indexes. These have been corrected in the transcription index, which now holds 362,200 entries."

"By contrast, the Townland Index books are quite legible from 1811, and transcribing them is straightforward."

The Grantor Index has also grown, with more than 1,130 entries recently added. It now holds 46,637 entries.

To join the band of volunteers, click the link above, where you'll find details, how-to guides and more.