Wandering through Irish cemeteries looking for gravestones of long-dead ancestors, while potentially a fruitful source of genealogical data, is not everyone's idea of a holiday in Ireland. Fortunately for genealogists, local historical societies in Ireland sometimes publish transcriptions of gravestones in their localities. Listed below are the graveyard records owned by the Department of Special Collections. Given the dearth of Irish census records, wills have become an important source of Irish genealogical information. Listed below are the published guides to Irish wills available in the Department.
Wills usually links a name to a locality.
1997 Index to the Prerogative Wills of Ireland, 1536-1810 . Estate Papers, Personal Papers, Etc . The resulting volumes include many items of genealogical interest. Please consult vol. 1 for an introduction to the entire series.