Public Record Office Of Northern Ireland

While studying history at Queen’s, I was required to make trips to PRONI pretty often. It’s such a great resource, allowing students like me and the general public at large to access great swathes of information about Northern Ireland or their genealogy.
It does take time to find what you’re looking for, as much of the information needs to be fetched for you by a staff member, but as long as you’re prepared for that, you can’t really complain.

Unfortunately, the public records office will be largely inaccessible until about May 2011, as it moves to the Titanic Quarter. But the place has millions of records, a few of which apparently date back to the 13^th century! Most of the people who would use the PRO are people attempting to trace family histories, trawling through a mind-​boggling array of records to try and unearth their origins.
The great thing about this place is that it’s free if you’re going to do your own research. I think your best bet is to go to the Ulster Historical Foundation (see my review) and pay for an initial bit of research to be done, then head down to the PRO, armed with your new information, and begin your search from there. You should be able to find out plenty about your family history here, with some records being so old that they have to be held in controlled conditions. I’m looking forward to the opening of the new office in the Titanic Quarter before summer 2011

Absolute bloody nightmare to work with. They’ve shifted their offices about 3 times, so that you never know how to find them. The website is not kept up to date with relevant contact details so the last time I tried to arrange a visit, it took me 6 weeks just to get through to them via email; the number i kept ringing just rang off the hook and made odd noises and they were extremely slow to reply via email. Not acceptable.

Relocation is in the pipeline for PRONI which is due to move to new premises in the Titanic Quarter in 2011 and the present site in Balmoral Avenue will be closed this autumn to prepare. Therefore, you will not have much time left to make use of the current site of the Public Records Office, which contains church records, valuation books, school records, street directories on paper and microfiche. I have also researched the significant Northern Ireland photo archive held here, as well as ordnance survey maps from 1903 and around 1880.
The maps are fascinating for anyone interested in a certain town, village or townland as the detail includes every last shed and cottage. Various families of substance in the province have deposited their records here too.
You do need time on your hands when visiting the Public Records Office, however, for the process of looking up and waiting for the staff to extract the documents from the store requires some consultation and forethought. There is a reading room too with stimulating books of local historical interest accessible on the shelves.
In the main staff are eager and willing to help you find family history records or other documentary evidence that you seek and I’ve found my three or four visits rewarding, though of course, you need to like this sort of thing.

I visit here every summer, when I’m off work, to go and have another trawl through our family history, and to see if I can get any more details and information regarding the genealogy of our family in general. They have so many records and resources here it would make your mind boggle — they have microfilm records with all the parish records you might need — births, deaths and marriages — going waaaaay back, as well as lots of catalogues, muster rolls, land and property valuation information, and much much more like the 1901 census records and National School Records also — I will never forget the excitement of finding my Grandfathers name and some information about his schooling — it was like finding treasure. When you first start, it all seems very overwhelming, but the staff will help you with any question or query you might have, they are used to dealing with total geneaology experts, right down to eejits like me who don’t have a clue. Worth a visit if you are interested in your family history, but be prepared to make several visits as you can’t do this in one day!