Ireland: civil registration districts

Click below to study larger maps of:
Northern half of Ireland civil registration districts
Southern half of Ireland civil registration districts.

In Ireland, civil registration districts were created shortly after Poor Law Unions were established and followed the same boundaries. Each had a market town at its centre and they were of varying size, depending on the level of population in the town's natural catchment area.

King's Inn, Dublin. The old General Register Office
Old King's Inn, Dublin

Crucially for Irish genealogy research, these Poor Law Unions and registration districts do not necessarily obey the county or parish boundaries by which other records are arranged. For example, in the Republic of Ireland, the civil registration district of Shillelagh is centred on the Wicklow village of that name but includes rural areas in both co. Carlow and co. Wexford.

The list below, and the maps which you can study by following the links to the right, have been created from information supplied by the General Register Office's Research Room in Dublin, and cover both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

County civil registration offices (see box), the National Archives and the National Library hold lists of all townlands in each district. Working in the other direction, where you have a townland but not the name of the local register district, you should consult the Alphabetical Index to the Towns, Townlands and Parishes of Ireland (which is held in the National Archives, National Library and in major libraries around the world) to find the name of the relevant Poor Law Union (PLU) or registration district.

Need to register a birth, marriage or death?

Rep. of Ireland civil registration offices: addresses, phone numbers and opening hours.

Northern Ireland civil registration offices: addresses and emails, phone numbers, and opening hours.

Alphabetical by counties of Ireland: civil registration districts

Antrim

Antrim, Ballycastle, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Belfast, Coleraine, Larne, Lisburn, Lurgan.

Armagh

Armagh, Banbridge, Castleblaney, Dundalk, Lurgan, Newry.

Carlow

Baltinglass, Carlow, Enniscorthy, New Ross, Shillelagh.

Cavan

Bailieborough, Bawnboy, Cavan, Cootehill, Enniskillen, Granard, Irvinestown, Kells, Lisnaskea, Oldcastle.

Clare

Ballyvaughan, Corrofin, Ennis, Ennistimon, Killadysert, Kilrush, Scarriff, Tulla, Limerick.

Cork

Bandon, Bantry, Castletown, Clonakilty, Cork, Dunmanway, Fermoy, Kanturk, Kilmallock, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Middletown, Millstreet, Mitchelstown, Skibbereen, Skull, Youghal.

Dispensing joy, tears and medicine

The Poor Law Act 1838 saw the introduction of (initially) 130 Poor Law Unions (PLUs) into Ireland. Civil Registration did not start until some years later but when it did, each PLU became the basis for a Superintendent Registrar's District (SRD).

Just as each PLU was subdivided into Dispensary Districts, each with its own medical officer, so each SRD was subdivided into Registrar's Districts. Since the Registrar's District corresponded geographically to the Dispensary District, it was often the medical officer who took on the additional duties of the District Registrar. When not attending the sick and dispensing medicine, he was required to issue death, birth and marriage certificates and record appropriate entries in a register.

At the end of each quarter, the registers were forwarded to the District Superintendent Registrar who in turn made certified copies of the registers and sent them to the Dublin office of the Registrar General for Ireland. Civil Registration indexes covering the entire island were then made.

For a full explanation of Ireland's civil registration system and how it can be used in your Irish genealogy research, see the link under the 'Where next?' section at the bottom of the page.

Derry

Ballymoney, Coleraine, Derry (Londonderry), Limavady, Magherafelt, Newtown.

Donegal

Ballyshannon, Derry (Londonderry), Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford, Strabane, Stranolar.

Down

Banbridge, Belfast, Downpatrick, Kilkeel, Lisburn, Lurgan, Newry, Newtownards.

Dublin

Balrothery, Celbridge, Dublin North, Dublin South, Dunshaughlin, Rathdown.

Fermanagh

Ballyshannon, Clones, Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Lisnaskea.

Galway

Ballinasloe, Ballinrobe, Clifden, Galway, Glenamaddy, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Oughterard, Portunna, Roscommon, Scarriff, Tuam.

Kerry

Cahirsiveen, Dingle, Glin (dissolved after 1892 and split between Listowel and Rathkeale in co. Limerick), Kenmare, Killarney, Listowel, Tralee.

Kildare

Athy, Baltinglass, Celbridge, Edenderry, Naas.

Kilkenny

Callan, Carrick-on-Suir, Castlecomer, Kilkenny, New Ross, Thomastown, Urlingford, Waterford.

King’s, see Offaly

Laois (Queen’s)

Abbeyleix, Athy, Carlow, Donnaghmore (dissolved after 1887 and split between Roscrea and Urlingford), Mountmellick, Roscrea, Urlingford.

Leitrim

Ballyshannon, Bawnboy, Boyle, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlerea, Manor Hamilton, Mohill, Roscommon, Strokestown.

Limerick

Croom, Glin (after 1892 split between Listowel and Rathkeale), Kilmallock, Listowel, Mitchelstown, Newcastle, Rathkeale, Tipperary.

Londonderry, see Derry

Longford

Ballymahon, Granard, Longford.

Louth

Ardee, Drogheda, Dundalk.

Mayo

Ballina, Ballinrobe, Belmullet, Castlebar, Castlereagh, Claremorris, Killala, Newport (included in Westport after 1886), Swineford, Westport.

Meath

Ardee, Celbridge, Drogheda, Dunshaughlin, Edenderry, Kells, Navan, Oldcastle, Trim.

Monaghan

Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Clogher, Clones, Cootehill, Dundalk, Monaghan.

Offaly (King’s)

Edenderry, Mountmellick, Parsonstown (Birr), Roscrea, Tullamore.

Queen’s, see Laois

Roscommon

Athlone, Ballinasloe, Boyle, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlereagh, Roscommon, Strokestown.

Sligo

Ballina, Boyle, Dromore West, Sligo, Tobercurry.

Tipperary

Borrisokane, Callan, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clogheen, Clonmel, Nenagh, Parsonstown, Roscrea, Thurles, Tipperary, Urlingford.

Tyrone

Armagh, Castlederg, Clogher, Cookstown, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Gortin (dissolved after 1899 and split between Omagh and Strabane), Irvinestown, Omagh, Strabane.

Waterford

Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Dungarvan, Kilmacthomas, Lismore, Waterford, Youghal.

Westmeath

Athlone, Ballymahon, Castletown, Delvin, Granard, Mullingar, Tullamore.

Wexford

Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross, Shillelagh, Wexford.

Wicklow

Baltinglass, Naas, Rathdown, Rathdrum, Shillelagh.