County Down Parish Registers

Today we are delighted to announce the addition of parish registers for the First and Second Presbyterian Meeting Houses and the Church of Ireland, and Catholic churches of Annaclone/Anaghlone and Ballyroney, near Banbridge, County Down.

These records date between 1819 and 1913 and include baptisms, marriages, burials, communicant rolls and a register of graveyard plots. Many of these records include townland information, the basic building block of Irish family history.

Life Events

Baptisms, marriages and burials from this record include additional details such as sponsors and parents names. These records can be searched for in Life Events.

Communicant Rolls

The Communicant Rolls for the Presbyterian communities of Ballyroney and Anaghlone are a yearly roll call of communities' members between 1861 and 1913. Notations in the register include changes to women's names on marriage, the date a member died, or the date a member left the community, often through emigration. Also noted is whether the member was provided with a certificate on leaving the congregation. A certificate acted as a letter of introduction and of good conduct and would allow members to integrate with a Presbyterian community in a new location. Certificates would have been on particular importance to emigrants, their new community would have given them some stability in a strange country. Although, one man, Robert Hillis recorded in 1884 as 'neglecting ordinances' may have had some work to do to improve his standing in the community if he wished to get a certificate.

Burial Plots

A register of burial plot ownership for Ballyroney in the year 1895, this useful record set includes the address of those who owned plots in the Presbyterian graveyard. As these records relate to burial plot ownership, rather than memorials, they can be found in our Census, Land & Substitutes category.

Annaclone

Ballyroney