1. Maps
2. Roman Catholic Parishes in Lecale
3. The Forms
   • Form A
   • Form B1
   • Form B2
   • Form N
4. Acknowledgements
5. Visitor's Comments
6. Notes on the transcription

Contact us at -
admin@lecalehistory.co.uk

The project to place the 1901 Census for the Lecale area on the internet was the brainchild of William Stranney, a member of the Lecale & Downe Historical Society who undertook the mammoth task of transcribing the information. Between May and December 2006 the full transcription of the Census data for the 188 townlands (and 12 islands - only one with inhabitants), one major town and seven villages was completed.

We would welcome feedback (email us at admin@lecalehistory.co.uk) on the content and presentation of the material; in particular any comments on matters of accuracy, and if you have found the material of particular value. Contributions will be acknowledged in Appendix 4. Other comments are listed in Appendix 5. Please note our copyright statement. The material is Crown Copyright and the permission of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is required before any further publication. We would also appreciate suitable acknowledgement for any analyses of the material that you may extract and publish.

The Parishes listed here are the old civil parishes used for many centuries as one of the principal methods of compiling official records. They are not necessarily co-terminous with current denominational parish boundaries. Our source of information for these civil parishes and their townlands is Griffiths Valuation, 1863. Since before the time of the Census Roman Catholic parishes contained, with a few exceptions, a different configuration of townlands. As an aide to family research Appendix 2 reproduces extracts from Reverend James O'Laverty's An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern, Vol. I, 1878, which describes the make-up of the parishes and how they differ from the civil parish structure.

The administrative divisions in Ireland consisted of a variety of land units in descending order of size: Province, County, Barony, Parish and Townland. An explanation of these divisions is available at PRONI. Click this link.

The townlands are listed within their Parishes and alphabetically. There are four tables for each townland. These mirror the most commonly used Census forms. They are -

• Form A: Return of the members of the Family and their Visitors, Boarders, Servants, etc., who slept or abode in the House on the Night of Sunday, the 31st of March, 1901.
• Form B1: House and Building Return.
• Form B2: Return of Out-Offices and Farm-Steadings.
• Form N: Enumerator's Abstract for a Townland or Street. This abstract shows the number of Dwelling-houses, Families and Persons in the townland or street. It also shows the 'Religious Profession' of the people.

Other Forms: Two other forms are occasionally used. The first of these is Form H, which is a return of the military, Royal Irish Constabulary and Metropolitan Police in barracks. The second is Form E, which is a return of inmates in the workhouse. The contents of both Form H and E can be found under the Form A column.

The first two menu items on the left provide different views of the Census records - by Parish and by townland/street. The third menu item is an alphabetical list of all of the individuals enumerated in the Baronies on Census night. If you are searching for a named individual this is the place to start.