The  following announcement was written by the folks at Findmypast:

We’re honouring Irish history this St Patrick’s Day weekend. If you’ve got roots in the Emerald Isle, you may find a familiar name or two amongst this week’s 992,000 new records.

Explore three new 18th-century sets – Protestant Householders, Dissenters’ Petitions and the 1766 Religious Census – as well as new Belfast and Ulster Directory records and over 174,000 historical newspaper pages.

This week’s new additions offer an unparralelled glimpse into 18th-century Irish history. From Antrim to Armagh, read on for a full rundown all that’s been added this Findmypast Friday.

Ireland, 1766 Religious Census

This week’s biggest new set consists of 20,505 transcriptions from the 1766 Religious Census. Although the original documents were lost when Ireland’s Public Records Office was destroyed in 1922, these extensive transcripts were recorded by antiquarian and genealogist Tenison Groves prior to the fire.

From these records, you may be able to learn the name of the head of the household, the year, their religion, the parish and the county. The information recorded varies widely, because different enumerators recorded different details.

Ireland, Census of Protestant Householders 1740

Secondly, we’ve also added transcriptions of a census that was taken of Protestant householders in 1740. The 15,957 records within this new set are from parishes in the counties of Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Donegal, Down and Tyrone.

Map of Ireland, c.1716.

Also created by Tenison Groves, these transcriptions contain details like a name, year, barony, parish and county. 

Ireland, 1775 Dissenters’ Petitions

This week’s third and final new set is a collection of historic petition records. It contains approximately 4,000 names, of people who protested the Church of Ireland’s sacramental tests in 1775. The petitions consist of dissenters’ names categorized by parish, congregation, town, neighbourhood, or, in one case, barony. 

Occasionally, members of the Established Church also signed the petitions. The lists typically specify whether signatories were dissenters or Established Church members. In cases where no denomination is indicated, the list contained names of both dissenters and Established Church members without differentiation.

While available for all Northern Ireland counties except Fermanagh, these records are most extensive for areas in Counties Antrim and Down.

Belfast & Ulster Directories

In addition to the three brand new Irish record sets, we’ve also made a significant update to an existing Irish collection. We added 951,127 Belfast and Ulster directory records, with both transcriptions and original images available for you to explore. 

These new additions span 1831 to 1900, and contain over 900,000 names. With almost 70 years of history covered, they offer a detailed glimpse into what the North of Ireland was like in the 19th century. 

New pages from Windsor to Woodford

We added a brand new publication – the Brighouse Echo – to our newspaper archive this week. 

The Brighouse Echo, 8 January 1892.

We’ve also updated 57 of our existing titles, with a grand total of 174,403 new historical pages added.

Here’s a full rundown of all that’s been added to the newspaper archive this Findmypast Friday.

New title:

Brighouse Echo, 1887-1892, 1970, 1980-1983

Updated titles:

Alloa Journal, 1917

Banffshire Advertiser, 1917

Banffshire Herald, 1917

Barrhead News, 1917

Biggleswade Chronicle, 1891-1895, 1959-1966

Brechin Advertiser, 1962-1965, 1967-1969, 1971-1972

Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger, 1916-1917

Buchan Observer and East Aberdeenshire Advertiser, 1919-1929

Coalville Times, 1917

Cumberland & Westmorland Herald, 1917

Deal, Walmer & Sandwich Mercury, 1990

Denbighshire Free Press, 1917

Dominica Chronicle, 1917

Durham County Advertiser, 1917

Eastbourne Gazette, 1986

Essex Weekly News, 1917

Evening Irish Times, 1917

Fraserburgh Herald and Northern Counties’ Advertiser, 1990

Hants and Sussex News, 1917

Hemel Hempstead Gazette and West Herts Advertiser, 1984, 1988

Herts Advertiser, 1917

Hornsey & Finsbury Park Journal, 1917

Huntly Express, 1917

Irish Weekly and Ulster Examiner, 1964

Kent Evening Post, 1973, 1990, 1994, 1998

Kentish Express, 1990-1991, 1994, 1998-1999

Kentish Gazette, 1990-1991, 1994, 1997, 1999

Leighton Buzzard Observer and Linslade Gazette, 1905-1908, 1910-1918

Linlithgowshire Gazette, 1919-1920

Lowestoft Journal, 1917

Maidstone Telegraph, 1975, 1978, 1993, 1995-1996, 1998

Mearns Leader, 1990

Midland Tribune, 1917

Montrose Standard, 1964

Morecambe Visitor, 1975

Nelson Leader, 1986

Northern Chronicle and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland, 1917

Port-Glasgow Express, 1964

Retford, Worksop, Isle of Axholme and Gainsborough News, 1980

Richmond and Twickenham Times, 1917

Ripon Gazette, 1983-1985

Rugby Advertiser, 1850-1852, 1982, 1986-1987

Sheerness Times Guardian, 1990, 1999

Shetland Times, 1948, 1950

South Notts Echo, 1964

Southend Standard and Essex Weekly Advertiser, 1917

St. Andrews Citizen, 1957-1968

Sydenham, Forest Hill & Penge Gazette, 1964

Todmorden & District News, 1936-1951, 1980-1984

Tonbridge Free Press, 1964

Voice of St. Lucia, 1917

Volunteer Service Gazette and Military Dispatch, 1917

Wimbledon News, 1917

Windsor and Eton Express, 1917

Wolverton Express, 1964

Woodford and District Advertiser, 1917

Woodford Times, 1917

Last week we added a brand new collection of Women’s Land Army records, in addition to a new Irish set and some updated Northamptonshire Militia records. Don’t miss out – explore the full release for yourself.