North of Ireland
The Linen Houses of the Bann Valley: The Story of Their Families by Kathleen Rankin. A companion volume to The Linen Houses of the Lagan Valley, this tells the story of the linen families and their houses in the counties, Down, Armagh and Tyrone. The book is well illustrated with many colour illustrations and contains family trees for the Bell family, the Cowdy family, the Crawford family, the Dickson family, the Dunbar family, the Ferguson family, the Greer and Greeves family, the Lindsay family, McMaster family, the Murland family, the Smyth family, the Sinton family, and the Uprichard family. Published by the Ulster Historical Foundation, Belfast 2007, 260pages, £29.99 ISBN 978-1-903688700. Further details can be found at www.ancestryireland.com/index.php?ai_books.
Duty without Glory: The Story of Ulster's Home Guard in the Second World War and the Cold War by David R. Orr. Following Dunkirk Churchill called for the formation of Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) in May 1940, a week later Lord Craigavon announced his intent to form LDV in Northern Ireland. By August of the same year the name of the volunteers was changed to the Home Guard. The book tells the story of the Home Guard from 1940 - 1944 and its recall in 1950 to meet the communist threat in the first half of that decade. Published by Redcoat Publishing, Newtownards 2008, 320pages, £25.00 ISBN 978-0-9538367-2-7.
Belfast
Tom Hartley "Written in Stone: The History of Belfast City Cemetery", Brehon Press £14.99. Belfast City Cemetery is located on the Falls Road and was opened on the 1st August 1869, since then some 250,000 people have been buried there. The book is not a comprehensive listing of all these people but is a selective listing of those gravestones and history of the people that have caught the interest of the author.
"The Register of the Parish of Shankill, Belfast, 1745-1761" edited by Professor Raymond Gillespie and Alison O’Keeffe. This is the tenth volume in the RCB Library Series of Church of Ireland parish registers and was published in December, 2006.
Co Armagh
Reverend John Batchelor "Tynan Parish Armagh, Burials and Baptisms 1683-1723". Published in Dúiche Néill: Journal of the O’Neill Country Historical Society, Number 15, 2006 p99-132. Despite the title the article also contains details of marriages from the same period. Before listing the baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in the parish records, some historical context is provided, reasons for gaps in the records and a background to some of families listed. The baptismal register covers the years 1685-1723, the marriage and burial registers are for the years 1683-1723. Details of approximately 700 individuals are listed, almost three quarters of these being baptisms.
Co Down
Franklin Graham "A History of Gilford Presbyterian Church 1843–2006 and Other Articles of Local History". Published by the Church, this book describes the history of Presbyterianism in Gilford, Co Down from the early 17th century to the present day. Inextricably linked to the history of Gilford is the history of Hugh Dunbar and the Mill. Other items of local interest include the 'big houses' in the area - Gilford and Elmfield Castles, Dunbarton, Huntley and Mountpleasant Houses. The book is well illustrated throughout with many black and white photographs.
"Killowen: Lost in the Mists of Time" Compiled and edited by members of the Killowen Historical Society and published by the society. The book covers the history of the eight townlands of the Killowen district: Ballinran, Ballineddan, Ballyedmond, Ballincurry, Ballindoalty, Ballincur, Killfeaghan and Tamnaveigh. It tells the story of a number of families from the area and includes a number of school photographs from the 1920s and 1930s. It also includes some of the myths and legends from the area. Further details at www.killowenhistory.com.
Co Fermanagh
W. J. Canning "A Wheen of Medals: The History of the 9th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (The Tyrones) in World War One". This history of the battalion was published earlier this year to mark the 90th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme; in which The Tyrones played a prominent role with the Ulster Division. The battalion also saw action on the western front at Ypres, Cambrai, the Lys River and played an important role in the Battle of St. Quentin. Two VCs were awarded to members of the battalion, one to Captain Eric Bell and one to Second Lieutenant Emerson. The book contains details of more than 700 men mainly from Co Tyrone who died in the First World War and is well illustrated with maps and photographs. The book may be obtained from the author: W. J. Canning, Dunsilly Lodge, Antrim, BT41 2JH, Tel: 028 9446 2029
Peter Marson "Belmore – The Lowry-Corry Families of Castle Coole 1646–1913". Published by the Ulster Historical Foundation, this book tells the story of the Lowry and Corry families and contains family trees of both families. Belmore was the name taken by Armar Lowry Corry when he was created a baron, and later the first Earl of Belmore. In 1779 to celebrate his forthcoming marriage he commissioned Castle Coole, described as one of the finest neo-classical houses in Ireland, it was designed by James Wyatt and completed in 1798. The house is now in the hands of the National Trust. Eminent family members included two Admirals; the father of the House of Commons, Henry Corry, first Lord of the Admiralty; and Montagu Corry, Lord Rowton, Disraeli’s private secretary and close friend. The book is priced at £29.99, ISBN: 9781903688649.
Co Londonderry
Robert Forrest"Historical Gleanings from the Parish of Magilligan, Co Londonderry: 1600-1800AD". This booklet was researched, written and published by one of the society's members. The book is A5 and comprises 65 pages relating to genealogical sources for the Parish of Magilligan (Tamlaghtard). Contents include the Civil Survey 1654/5; Pender’s Census 1659; The 1663 Hearth Money Roll; Muster Roll, 1666; 1740 Householders’ Returns; Tamlaghtard Church of Ireland registers (Baptisms: 1748-1764, Marriages: 1747-1753, Burials: 1747-1776); Magilligan baptisms (1699-1710); Magilligan marriages, (1683-1739); Estate records (Gage estate; Bacon estate; Hervey-Bruce estate); 1796 Flax Premium returns; Will extracts; Gravestone Inscriptions (St. Aidan’s Mixed, Magilligan). The book is priced at £10.00, and can be ordered from Bobby Forrest, 14 Edenvale, Crossgar, County Down, N. Ireland, BT309PU bobbyforrest63@hotmail.com".
Co Tyrone
"Hatches, Matches and Dispatches". This book researched by William McGrew and published by Omagh Family History Society in 2007 contains almost two thousand entries of birth, marriage, and death notices recorded from older local newspapers including the Tyrone Constitution, Omagh News, and some from Strabane Morning Post, Belfast Newsletter and Derry Journal. The notices relate to people from Omagh and surrounding districts and cover a period from 1815-1873, with a few prior to 1800. The book is formatted in three sections alphabetically indexed for ease of reference and should be of wide interest to genealogists tracing ancestry whose families have resided in the Omagh area in years past. The book is priced at £12.00, full details of how to order this book can be found at myweb.tiscali.co.uk/omagh/publications.html.
