Armagh the smallest county in Northern Ireland, has a rich, colourful
and even tempestuous history. War, famine and emigration over
the last four centuries have all contributed to forming the distinctive
character of its people.
The constant struggle between Planter and Gael that has characterised the
county since the Plantation in the early 17th century may be seen in, for
example, the almost equal division of the most popular surnames. The
county town, the city of Armagh, is the ecclesiastical capital of both the
Catholic and Protestant religions on the island. By the end of the 18th
century the county became one of the most prosperous and the most
densely populated in Ireland.
Its turbulent history has taken its toll on the evidence that remains. Many
records were lost, including those in the destruction of the Public Record
Office in Dublin in 1922; much has, however, survived to aid the dedicated
family or local historian and is accessible in the detailed catalogues
and user-friendly searching aids in the Public Record Office of Northern
Ireland. Ian Maxwell writes both as an historian and an archivist eager to
encourage researchers to use the fullest range of sources available.
An exceptional feature of this book are the reference appendices. These
include a breakdown of administrative divisions listing some 1,400 townlands
and also unofficial placenames which disappeared from official use
after the standardisation of placenames in the 1830s. Also provided for
each townland are the civil parish, barony and poor law union plus the
vital district electoral division details that greatly facilitates the researcher
using sources such as census returns and property valuation records. Other
appendices provide crucial archival references to tithe and valuation
records and civil and Catholic parish maps are included. Such reference
appendices will be a feature of further books in this series of county guides
for the family and local historian.
