Publication of Introduction to the Memorials and Transcription Books in the Registry of Deeds

Introduction to the Memorials and Transcription Books in the Registry of Deeds.

The Registry of Deeds consists of a large, unique and very significant body of historical records relating to property transactions in Ireland, dating from 1708 to the present.  

We are pleased to support a new Introduction the Memorials and Transcription Books in the Registry of Deeds by Dr. Patrick Walsh which aligns with our own strategic vision to make the Registry of Deeds collections more accessible and user friendly. 

The publication is one of the tangible outputs from the Deeds and Sasines Research Project, a collaborative research project which ran from Sept 2020 to June 2022 and was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Irish Research Council. The project brought together the archival expertise of the Registry of Deeds Archive Service and National Records of Scotland with historians and digital humanities experts from Trinity College Dublin, University of Glasgow and Beyond 2022. 

The Guide contextualises Registry of Deeds records by outlining the purpose and prevailing land legislation in eighteenth century and the processes for registering a deed in Ireland. It then identifies the main categorise of deeds which were registered at Registry of Deeds, their key features and associated legal terminology. As articulated by Dr. Walsh, our hope is that this Guide will help ‘demystify’ the Registry of Deeds. We trust it will be a useful reference companion for researchers and will encourage use of Registry of Deeds records to uncover the history of land, people and places in Ireland in the eighteenth century. 

Introduction to the Memorials and Transcription Books at the Registry of Deeds

Patrick Walsh delivered a talk about the Deeds and Sasines project at the Registry of Deeds on 4th October 2022 at which this Guide was launched.  A MP3 recording of the talk at can be downloaded listen to.