What did your ancestors get up to before Christmas?

Christmas is coming. You may still be in denial (you're not alone!) but here's a gentle way to get you into the mood...

Timeline Research, the service run by Nicola Morris of The Genealogy Roadshow fame and Dr Robert Somerville Woodward, is publishing a daily blog during December telling of how our ancestors prepared for Christmas. Using selected newspaper stories from 1813 to 1922, the blogposts will give a flavour of how Ireland celebrated the festive season many generations ago.

In the first two blogposts of the month, stories have included details of Switzer’s Grand Xmas Bazaar on Grafton Street, where Pongo handed out sweets, and the price of seasonal refreshments such as Guinness’s Celebrated XXX porter – just two shillings six pence a dozen for small bottles and especially recommended to invalids for ‘its nutriments and strengthening qualities’.

Irish genealogy and history events to open December

Tuesday 3 December: Tales from a Country Churchyard and what they tell us about 19th cenutry society,  with Judy Cameron. Host: Kilmacanogue History Society. Venue: Glenview Hotel, Glen of the Downs, Co Wicklow. 8:30pm. All welcome. Admission: Members €2; non-members €3.

Tuesday 3 December: The Irish Life and Lore project, with Maurice O'Keefe. Venue: Tullamore Library, O'Connor Square, Tullamore, Co. Offaly. Phone: 057 93 46832 6:30pm. Free.

Tuesday 3 December: RTE Document Archives, a lecture with Tina Byrne. Host: Irish Society for Archives. Venue: Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. 6:30pm. Wine Reception at 6pm. Admission free. All welcome.

Wednesday 4 December: Forgetting Ireland's Sites of Independence? Archaeology and the Irish revolution, 1916-23: lost opportunities, with Damiel Shiels. Host: Centre for Contemporary Irish History Seminars. Venue: Neill Hoey Seminar Room, Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute, Trinity College Dublin. 4pm–5pm. Free. All welcome.

Wednesday 4 December: Workhouse records at PRONI, with Ann McVeigh. Venue: Heritage Gallery, Downpatrick Library, Market Street, Downpatrick, Co Down BT30 6LZ. 1pm. Free. Booking essential. Tel: 028 4461 2895.

Thursday 5 December: Escaping the Famine? Skeletal evidence of health of Irish migrants in mid-19th century London, with Natasha Powers. Last of the 5th Annual Irish in Britain Seminar series. Host: Irish Studies Centre. Venue: Room TM1-38, London Metropolitan University, Tower Building, 166-220, Holloway Road, London N7 8DB. 6:30pm to 8pm. Refreshments provided.  Free, but booking required. More information.

Friday 6 December: Memories of Christmas Past: A nostalgic look at Christmas via the Digital Film Archive (1897-2000). Venue: Killyleagh Library,52 High Street, Killyleagh, Co Down BT30 9QF. 1:00pm–1:45pm. Free. Booking advised. Tel: 028 4482 8407.

Saturday 7 December: They Have Rights Who dare Maintain Them, an exhibition and two talks on the formation of the Irish Volunteers, with Gerry White and others. Part of the History to Blame programme. Talks: They Have Rights Who Dare Maintain Them – The formation of the Irish Volunteers, and Baptised in Blood – The formation of the Cork Brigade of Irish Volunteers. From 11am to 4pm. City Library, Grand Parade, Cork. Free.

AncestryIreland releases two new record sets

AncestryIreland, the membership database of the Ulster Historical Foundation, has added the following two record sets to its online collection:

• Ireland’s Memorial Records: A listing of the almost 50,000 Irishmen who gave their lives during World War One 1914–18.
  
• Eden School Register from 1872 to 1945: The school is in Tamlaght O’Crilly parish, Co. Londonderry.

More Church of Ireland record sets are expected to join the line-up shortly.

You can view a list of AncestryIreland's collections here.

End of November updates from IGP Archives

Below are the updates made to Ireland Genealogy Projects Archives in the second half of November.

The number of records now held for Mount Jerome cemetery has broken through the 10,000 milestone, thanks to impressive work by Yvonne Russell, while in the Military & Constabulary file, the 1858 Constabulary records are now being completed and work has started on 1849.


ANTRIM Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1849

DERRY Londonderry Genealogy Archives Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

DONEGAL Genealogy Archives
Donegal Abbey (views & some headstones)

DUBLIN Genealogy Archives - Headstones
Mount Jerome, 66 & 67
Deansgrange Cemetery, West Section - Part 4

GALWAY Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Clontuskert Church (MOYLAN)

KERRY Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Stradbally Burial Ground

KILKENNY Genealogy Archives - Military
Irish Constabulary

LIMERICK Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LAOIS (QUEENS) Genealogy Archives - Headstones.
Timahoe Cemetery (McKENNA)

LEITRIM Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LONGFORD Genealogy Archives
St Brigid's Ardagh, Roman Catholic Church, Edgeworthstown Road, Ardagh – photos
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

LOUTH Genealogy Archives
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

MAYO Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

MEATH Genealogy Archives
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)
Hill of Slane (GOW) headstones

MONAGHAN Genealogy Archives - Military
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

OFFALY (KINGS) Genealogy Archives - Military & Constabulary
Irish Constabulary 1858 partial (Service nos. 22751-24000)

RCBL's December Archive: Rare images of Belfast 1912

The Representative Church Body Library's Archive of the Month for December allows a study of a rare set of images of the streets of Belfast and the work of the Trinity College Mission in its foundation year of 1912.

The Trinity College Mission in Belfast was established in St Mary’s parish. By the early 20th century, this densely–populated area in the labyrinth of streets between the Shankill and Crumlin Road (where St Mary’s church was located) had been identified as a district of particular need. It housed some of the poorest families in the city, with unemployment rife, properties derelict and health and sanitation needs high.  The 33 black and white photos in this album provide a rare insight to living conditions in the poorest part of the city, and the Church of Ireland’s positive response in this context.

The photos have never been released in digital format before.

Gt Parchment Book refresh for Plantation Exhibition

There's to be a refresh of items at the Ulster Plantation Exhibition at Derry Guildhall next week. One of the highlights of the 'changeover' will be a new page from the Great Parchment Book, courtesy of the London Metropolitan Archive (LMA).

The changeover is an opportunity to attract new interest in what has been a very successful exhibition. Since opening at the newly-restored Guildhall in June, the majority of the 210,000 visitors to the flamboyant sandstone building have attended the exhibition, which examines the planning that went into the Plantation and how people were effected by it, as well as its continuing legacy.

Announcing the changeover, Mayor Cllr Martin Reilly said: 'We are extremely pleased to be in a position to receive new archives. This is enabled due to the continued and sustained relationship that the Heritage and Museum Service maintains with the LMA, The Honorable The Irish Society. An important addition, which we are extremely excited about, is a further page of the fascinating Great Parchment book. The manuscript itself is important in the development of the early 17th century and the role of the Irish Society and tells a story about our region to locals and visitors.'

Another addition to the exhibition will be extracts from the ‘The Survey of Londonderry’ by Charles Stewart.

Bernadette Walsh, Archivist with Derry City Council’s Heritage and Museum Service explains: 'The 1814-1815 document details the survey and valuation made by Stewart himself, showing details such as reference number, former and present tenants, use of land, acreage, value, valuation, date of lease and years and lives granted. One of the oldest items in the London Museum Archive collection to go on display, a page from a volume of deeds that details the farming and fishing leases, the page on display relates to a George Squire, in the seventeenth century.

'Early research and sustained relationships with the Irish Society allows us to exhibit a range of their items to add to the exhibition from maps and drawings to correspondence, accounts, legal deeds and minutes of meetings. As well as this a few unseen maps from the Derry City Council archive collection have also been selected by the Archivist to go on display, alongside facsimile copies of the early 17th-century maps of the city.'

To facilitate the secure transfer of these pieces, the Plantation Exhibition will close on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 December. It will reopen to the public on Thursday 5 December from 10am.

Details of how the Great Parchment Book has been conserved and digitized can be found at www.greatparchmentbook.org

For further information, contact the Guildhall directly on telephone 028 71 376510 or Email. 

1848 letters map out pre-Famine landscape of Wicklow

If you have ancestors from County Wicklow, you'll be interested to check out the Ordnance Survey Letters, which were compiled as part of the research leading to the very first detailed mapping of Ireland by the Ordnance Survey.

The letters were written by three surveyors during their field work of the county in 1838/9 and record the origins and meaning of local placenames and describe the historical and archaeological monuments they discovered. They also tell of traditions and customs that died out during the Great Famine only a decade later, and often mention the names of people they encountered in their research.

The letters were edited by Christiaan Corlett and John Medlycott, and published in 2000 by Roundwood & District Historical & Folklore Society and Wicklow Archaeological Society as a 165-page illustrated paperback. In pdf format, the book can now be downloaded, free of charge, from Christian Corlett's website.

Progress made in arrangements for WW1 centenary

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan TD recently met with Northern Ireland Office Minister Andrew Robathan MP, and Ministry of Defence Minister Lord Astor to discuss the commemorative arrangements for the centenary of the First World War.

The Ministers discussed the developing British and Irish programmes for 2014-2018 with particular interest in the anniversaries to occur in 2014, including:

• The entry into war on 4 August
  
• The early experience of the War and the Battle of Mons
  
• The ‘Christmas Truce’ and the special commemorative plans in Belgium

'The inseparable British and Irish military history of the First World War will be reflected in many of the commemorative events in the coming years and provide the basis of complementary and co-operative initiatives,' said Minister Deenihan. 'With the increased use of online presentations and close co-operation between our national cultural institutions, I am confident that we can engage a wide audience and enhance our understanding of that terrible conflict.'

The British Prime Minister recently announced that the programme of special memorial paving stones for those awarded the Victoria Cross during WW1 would be expanded to offer stones in respect of the more than 170 recipients who came from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, India, Ireland, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka Ukraine and USA.

In response, Minister Deenihan said: 'The VC awards recognised acts of individual valour and distinction in conflict. The stories of the recipients – and indeed the personal stories of many other soldiers – will afford us insight into their experience and the conditions of war. The offer of memorial stones for the Irish VCs is appreciated and I will be interested to discuss with commemoration partners in Ireland how they might appropriately be incorporated in a monument.'

The British and Irish Ministers were pleased to note the agreement to mark the centenary of the First World War next year by erecting a monumental Cross beside the memorial walls for the World Wars at Glasnevin cemetery. The Cross will be provided by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and follows on a recent programme in which the Commission provided headstones for the graves of more than 200 servicemen at Glasnevin.

Welcoming the development, John Green, Chairman of Glasnevin Trust said: 'It is a privilege for Glasnevin Trust to be a part of remembering and honouring the 50,000 men from the Island of Ireland who fell in the Great War, so many of whom are interred in Glasnevin cemetery.'

The Director General of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Mr Alan Pateman-Jones, said: 'The Commonwealth War Graves Commission welcomes the opportunity to support this initiative to erect a Cross of Sacrifice in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, in remembrance of those who died during the two world wars.

'It will further strengthen the increasingly close relationship that exists between the Commission, the Irish Government and public and the Glasnevin Trust, all of whom have done so much to support our work of commemoration and remembrance in Ireland.'

Two launches for beautiful Church of Ireland book

Superbly designed and produced, The Church of Ireland: an illustrated history will be officially launched in Belfast on Tuesday 3 December and in Dublin on Friday 5 December (details below). The 400-page book presents the rich heritage and history of the one-time established church in full colour, making it as much a coffee table publication as a serious collection of essays.

Edited by Professor Brian Walker and Dr Claude Costecalde, the book comprises the work of over sixty historians, editors and photographers from all over Ireland with a diverse range of interests and approaches.

'Each tells the story of the Church in his or her own way,' say the Archbishop of Armagh and Archbishop of Dublin in their foreword. 'The variety of this material reflects the diversity within the Church itself. This volume achieves the remarkable task of covering every parish or union/group of parishes, with illustrations of over two thirds of all the churches.'

Dr Costecalde describes the book as 'a record of the past with an invitation to reflect on the life of the church in the 21st century'.

A preview of the book, in all its glorious colour, can be enjoyed on the publisher's website: Booklink. It can be ordered (price £30) from BooksIreland.*

The Belfast launch on 3 December will be at St Anne’s Cathedral 6.30pm. The Dublin launch on 5 December will take place at Church House, Rathmines, Dublin 6 at 7.00pm.

*The book is offered at a special reduced price of £25 over Thanksgiving Weekend. Offer ends Monday 2 December.

National Archives releases 1970-74 documents to CAIN

This afternoon at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, launched an extended range of digitised archival documents from the NAI relating to the conflict in Northern Ireland. These 750 documents relate to the years 1970–1974 and can now be viewed, free, on the University of Ulster's CAIN database.

This is the second batch of records from the NAI to be added to CAIN. The first batch related to the years 1965–69 and was added to the online archive just over a year ago.

The CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) database provides extensive information and source material on the conflict and politics of Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present day. The material from the National Archives of Ireland is mostly from various government departments and offers an insight into Dublin's reactions to the ongoing turmoil and Anglo-Irish relations. It will be of particular interest to political and social historians and researchers.