Ireland Research Trip - Day 6

A small group went to the Registry of Deeds because for several of us there wouldn't be anything relating to our ancestors.

The Registry is summarized in our tour organizer Donna Moughty's blog at IrishFamilyRoots.com,

The Registry of Deeds began operation in 1708 and records not only land deeds, conveyances marriage settlements, mortgages among other documents. There was never a requirement to file a deed so it does not represent every transaction. It was mostly used when there was the possibility of a legal action in the future. The vast majority of the records, especially in the early years was for Protestants. You might find your Catholic ancestors mentioned in the mid to late 19th and 20th century.

After breakfast there was some time before it opened, so I took another walk around Dublin. Unfortunately, I did get turned around and got back to the hotel too late. And since the Registry was not in walking distance I decided to return to the National Library of Ireland and go through more newspapers and look for more books and materials for County Donegal. I did find more relevant information for my research than I likely would have looking through the deeds.

After that, I returned to Liberty University and took the tour.

Here is the outside of the Long Room Library.

 At the entrance of the library there is this sculpture. The Sphere Within Sphere or in Italian, Sfera con Sfera by artist Arnaldo Pomodoro, The first of spheres was made in 1963.  Others are spread out over the world including the United Nations plaza in New York and the Cortile del Belvedere at the Vatican Museums.

 

 And the inside of the Long Room Library. I hadn't realized this was where they filmed the library scene in Attack of the Clones. I might actually re-watch this movie now, though it will likely be the RiffTrax version.

And these books are still used by researchers today.

 And the last part of the tour was to see The Book of Kells which is a 9th century manuscript that documents the four Gospels of the Bible.

After we headed to the oldest pub in Dublin, Brazen Head Pub for music and storytelling. We heard tales of fairies and sang songs such as the classic Finnegans Wake. A very memorable evening with much food and Guinness (at least in my case).