31.10.2013
Derryloran Parish County Tyrone baptisms and confirmations transcribed – the Anglican Record Project continues
The RCB Library’s Archive of the Month returns to County Tyrone this month and the excellent work of transcribing and indexing parish registers of baptism, marriage and burial conducted by Mark Williams for the Anglican Record Project which is released exclusively via the Archive of the Month medium. This time it is a contribution from the diocese of Armagh – specifically the parish of Derryloran, County Tyrone, which is centred on the town of Cookstown.
For this parish no less than three combined registers and two baptismal registers have been transcribed to give a complete 100–year run of baptisms from 1796 (when the earliest register commences) to 1896 (when the second register of baptisms ends) together with lists of confirmations in 1843, 1846, 1849, 1852 and 1856, which are recorded in the first of the combined registers. The transcripts are enhanced by a comprehensive alphabetical index of names. The original volumes from which the information was transcribed remain in local custody, and microfilm copies are also available at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.
The extensive run of parish baptismal registers coincides with the growth of the town of Cookstown, and to accommodate the growing numbers of parishioners a new parish church was built in 1822 of hewn freestone from a design by the famous London architect, John Nash. Previously Nash had set about redesigning and rebuilding Killymoon Castle for its owner William Stewart, and was subsequently commissioned to design the new parish church at the heart of the town. It is this church which continues to provide a striking ornament to the urban landscape today.
To view the transcripts and index to the baptismal and confirmation entries 1796–1896, see www.ireland.anglican.org/library/archive