After the Church of Ireland ceased to be the Established Church in 1869, its marriage records before 1845, and baptismal and burial records before 1870, were declared to be the property of the state public records. Unless the local clergyman was in a position to demonstrate that he could house these records safely, he was required to deposit them in the Public Record Office in Dublin.

By 1922, the original registers of nearly 1000 parishes, more than half the total for the country, were stored at the National Archives, and these were all destroyed in the fire on 28 June 1922.

Fortunately, a large number of registers had not found their way into the The National Archives. Local rectors had, in many cases, made a transcript before surrendering the originals. Local historians and genealogists using the PRO before 1922 had also amassed collections of extracts from the registers.

All of these factors mitigated, to some extent, the loss of such a valuable collection. However, it has also meant that surviving registers, transcripts and extracts are now held in a variety of locations. The Appendix to the 28th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records in Ireland lists the Church of Ireland parish records for the entire island, giving full details of the years covered and specifying those which were in the Public Office at the time of its destruction. No information on locations is included.

A more comprehensive account is supplied by the National Archives catalogue of Church of Ireland records, available in the National Archives reading room at the National Library and in A Table of Church of Ireland Parochial Records (ed. Noel Reid, IFHS, 1994). Only the copy in the National Archives is fully up to date.

As well as the dates of the registers, this catalogue also gives some details of locations, but only when the National Archives hold:

This is only possible when the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin holds original registers for dates which make them public records or when they are still held in the parish.

The catalogue does not indicate when microfilm copies are held by the Representative Church Body Library, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland or the National Library and simply specifies 'local custody'. This is accurate in that the originals are indeed held locally, but unhelpful to researchers.

In general, for the northern counties of Antrim, Armagh, Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Down, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Louth, Monaghan and Tyrone, surviving registers have been microfilmed by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and are available to the public in Belfast. The Guide to Church Records: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI, 1994) gives details.

For those counties that are now in the Republic of Ireland - Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Louth and Monaghan - copies of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland microfilms are available to the public at the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin.

For parishes further away from the border, 'local custody' is generally accurate, and it is necessary to commission the local clergyman to search his registers. The current Church of Ireland Directory will supply the relevant name and address.

The experience of 1922 has left the Church of Ireland understandably protective of its records, although the legal position remains that its early registers are state property. The National Archives have started a microfilming programme to cover the surviving registers in the Republic. However, not all the records are immediately accessible. In some cases it is necessary to obtain written permission from the local clergyman before the National Archives can allow access.

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