Local genealogy records are now online – for free

OVER 15,000 previously unavailable genealogy records relating to the greater West Cork area are now online to view – free of charge.

Skibbereen Heritage Centre has been digitising burial registers for a number of graveyards in West Cork for some time and the results of this work are now available on its website. These new records are in addition to the graveyards surveys already available on its West Cork Graveyards database.

‘We’re delighted to bring these records into the public domain,’ said Centre manager Terri Kearney, ‘and we are very grateful to Cork County Council for its support of this project.’

With so many people around the world confined to their homes and with time on their hands, Skibbereen Heritage Centre’s genealogy service has been inundated with online queries and there will be a big interest in these records.

‘We also got a great response to an online short video tour of Caheragh Old Graveyard that we put up recently and we hope to extend this to other graveyards over time,’ said Ms Kearney.

‘This allows the diaspora to connect with their ancestors’ burial places, but we’ve also had messages from local people who appreciate being able to “virtually” visit the site that means so much to them.’

While Skibbereen Heritage Centre is currently closed, its staff are working hard to digitise even more records which will be added to its website over time as well as creating new graveyard videos and a virtual historic tour of Skibbereen town.

The West Cork Graveyards database is on Skibbereen Heritage Centre’s website www.skibbheritage.com with a full list of the new graveyards covered.

There is also a useful tutorial video on how to use the database.