Archive of the Month03 Oct 22

Maps and Plans for Counties Mayo, Galway and Sligo, 1753–1873

By Bryan Whelan 

October’s Archive of the Month from the RCB Library returns to the Diocesan Records of Tuam, Killala & Achonry (D5 & D5A), focusing on the extensive collection of maps and plans (1753–1873) which forms an integral part of this important archive. The highlight of this presentation is making these maps and plans freely available in high–resolution images to researchers, historians, and the general public. The Library worked closely with Dr Michael O’Neill who imaged all of the materials and who uploaded them to a pre–existing online platform, the RCB Library’s Architectural Drawings site. Although this site is primarily for architectural drawings and plans, it was just to be the best option for the display of this material primarily because of the visual focus of the site, but also because there were already some glebe plans and maps already present. Furthermore, the site allows for the display of rich bibliographical data which aids those using the site in terms of search functionality. You can view this collection here

One of the main functions of the RCB Library is to provide a repository in which the archives and manuscripts of the Church of Ireland can be stored, arranged and made available to researchers in a systematic fashion. A great example of this function was the completion of the project to archive and catalogue the extensive diocesan archive of the Tuam, Killala and Achonry diocese. This work was completed in the summer of 2020, and formed the basis of June’s Archive of the Month for that year. The material that forms this collection was the result of papers and volumes from the united diocese being transferred from local diocesan custody to the Library, and began in the mid–1980s. It is perhaps no surprise that since the Library reopened to the public after the pandemic, this diocesan archive was of considerable interest to researchers interested in this area.

This collection, covering the period from c.1613 to 2000, includes a vast arrange of primary sources and unique items that expound the religious fabric of a huge geographical area of the western part of Ireland – specifically all of county Mayo, much of counties Galway and Sligo, as well as a small portion of county Roscommon. While many diocesan materials, including those for Tuam, Killala & Achonry, were stored in the Public Records Office of Ireland and thus subsequently destroyed by fire during the Civil War of 1922, what survives is a remarkable collection of important documents, including title books, subscriptions rolls, materials concerning diocesan clergy, episcopal materials dating from c.1613, along with a wealth of other materials. Of particular interest to this article is D5/17, a small but important collections of maps and plans, along with other related material for the period 1753–1873.

The maps and plans have been systematically arranged and a detailed catalogue–list is now available displaying over 80 maps, including some duplicates, showing either parish or district boundaries, and divided into four distinct categories. While the maps date from a very broad period of time (the earliest being a map of Kilmactigue in county Sligo from 1754) the vast majority date from the 1850s up to 1873, a time when land was at the forefront politically and culturally in Ireland. This period represented a period of transition for the Church of Ireland, with its Disestablishment from the state taking place on 1 January, 1871.

The Library has digitised the drawing component of the collection because of its rich visual content making this content freely available to a worldwide audience. Another important factor in prioritising this collection for digitisation was the fragile nature of some of these maps, whether due to age or in many instances the fact that they were drawn on thin tracing paper. The rich descriptive information that you see in the detailed catalogue–list has been incorporated into the digitised collection, allowing for the material to be easier to find by researchers and those with an interest in the area.   

The RCB Library was delighted to contribute an article about this project to the online blog Libfocus in March 2022. This article focused primarily on the workflow involved, the symbiotic relationship between a library and an archive, and the multifaceted skillsets required to catalogue a project of this scale. You can read this article here.