This summer Irish Ancestors Direct are involved with Kilcummin Historical Group in a local voluntary community project.  Funding  was received from the Heritage Council to record the gravestones in Old Kilcummin Graveyard.  John Tierney of Historic Graves has photographed all the gravestones and next week we hope to have access to all the photos …

We spent a very interesting afternoon on Sunday, in good company, as participants in a recording of local history and lore accompanied by traditional music from local musicians in the old cemetery in Kilcummin.  The graveyard contains the ruins of a church dating back to 1172 and destroyed by Cromwellan troops under General Ludlow in 1652. There are …

Heritage Week is almost upon us again and facing the usual dilemma of interesting events clashing. Log on to www.heritageweek.ie and with the assistance of an interactive map all event details are at your fingertips. All parts of Kerry are represented by a selection of workshops, walking and guided tours and music concerts. A number of 1916 commemorative …

On Friday, 4th March 2016, East Kerry Roots in association in Irish Ancestors Direct held a successful event displaying family trees relating to families from Castleisland and the surrounding areas.  This is the second such event and the idea is that people with an interest in genealogy call to the venue and may possibly find a family connection in …

Rattoo Tower, near Ballyduff in north Kerry, is the last surviving complete round tower in Kerry. Over the last number of years it has been the subject to careful preservation by the Office of Public Works.  The impressive tower is over one thousand years old. It is nearly 100 feet high and was built from local sandstone. Most of the round towers …

Countdown is on for the release online of the Catholic parish church registers next Wednesday.  The National Library of Ireland (NLI) will be launching a dedicated website with free access to almost 400,000 images of Catholic parish register microfilms. The period covered by the release is from 1740’s to 1880’s. Having spent many hours …

Continuing our historical and genealogical tour of North Kerry we recently visited Killury Cemetery. This is situated on the Ballyheigue to Ballyduff road close to Edmond Harty’s successful enterprise Dairymaster. Indeed the Harty family have been in this area going back many generations and many of their ancestors are buried in the local cemetery. …

Over summer 2015 Irish Ancestors Direct are hitting the roads of southern Ireland visiting heritage sites, ancient burial grounds and places of historical interest.  First Sunday in June, a beautiful sunny day, saw us in North Kerry visiting Ardfert. We enjoyed touring Ardfert Cathedral and adjoining burial grounds. A short walk from the village brought …

Welcome to Irish Ancestors Direct monthly blog. We intend to use this space to keep you up to date on genealogy developments past and present.  As genealogy and history fanatics we welcome your comments and observations.  There is great satisfaction in  filling in the gaps in your family tree.  By the time you get to your great grandparents you …