March 2004 Edition

The National Archives has produced the CD-ROM, Counties in Time, with the aim of introducing a sample of the records held in the National Archives of Ireland to a wide audience. The records chosen exist, in nearly all cases, for the thirty-two counties of Ireland, and cover the period from the late sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The CD contains almost 1000 

documents, including sixteenth-century Chancery Pleadings, seventeenth-century Books of Survey and Distribution, eighteenth-century Proclamations, nineteenth-century Famine papers, and twentieth-century records of the first Dáil. The documents are represented by scanned images and transcripts for those that are difficult to read. Explanatory introductions to all of the record classes are also provided. Short illustrated histories are included for each county, covering the period from the late sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Also included are a glossary of terms and a timeline that gives a short chronology of Irish history since the sixteenth century, providing details on several key national issues that are referred to in the county histories. A useful feature is the provision of a guide to using original records for historical research. The CD is easy to navigate and user-friendly, with an extensive "Help" section.

Counties in Time will be invaluable for local and family historians in Ireland and abroad, post-primary teachers and pupils, and individuals interested in Ireland's archival heritage. The variety of the documents included is testimony to the richness of the material in the custody of the National Archives of Ireland.

Details on how to purchase the CD may be found at <www.eneclann.ie/publications-8.asp> and an introductory tour of the CD's contents may be found at <www.eneclann.ie/pub-8-tour.asp>.

The RCB Library published, in late 2003, the eighth volume in its parish register series. The Registers of the parish of St Catherine, Dublin, 1636–1715, edited by Herbert Wood, a former deputy keeper of the public records of Ireland, is a reprint of the 1908 Parish Register Society edition which is long out of print. The reprint prefigures the publication, in autumn 2004, of the first vestry book of the parish of St Catherine and St James, 1657–92, which has been edited by Dr Raymond Gillespie, Senior Lecturer in Modern History in NUI, Maynooth. This will be the second volume in the Library's "Texts and Calendars" series which is published by Four Courts Press.

The 2004 volume in the parish register series, which will appear in the autumn, is an edition of the first register of Galway, 1792–1840. This has been edited by local archivist, Brigid Clesham, who is currently working in the Manuscripts Department of the National Library.

In 2005 an edition of Richard Caulfield's copies of the registers of St Fin Barre's, which will be edited by the Cork historian, Dr Alicia St Leger, will be published as a contribution to Cork's year as European City of Culture.

A collaborative project to write a new history of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was launched in January with an address in the cathedral by Professor Derek Keene, general editor of the forthcoming history of St Paul's Cathedral, London.

The new St Patrick's history will be edited by Canon John Crawford, who will write on the nineteenth-century cathedral, and Dr Raymond Gillespie, who will contribute the early modern section. The medieval narrative chapters will be written by Professor Howard Clarke, the eighteenth century will be covered by Dr Toby Barnard and Dr Kenneth Milne, and the Dean of St Patrick's, Dr Robert MacCarthy, will write about twentieth-century developments. There will be specialist chapters on music from Dr Alan Fletcher and Dr Kerry Houston, and on architecture from Professor Roger Stalley and Dr Michael O'Neill. The introduction, which will discuss the sources for the history, will be written by Dr Raymond Refaussé.

The new history will be based largely on the cathedral muniments which are in the RCB Library. However, like most Irish institutions which have survived from the middle ages, it is likely that there are stray archives and related manuscripts in other repositories and in private hands. Information on such sources will be most welcome and may be sent to Dr Raymond Refaussé, RCB Library, Braemor Park, Churchtown, Dublin 14 or to <raymond.refausse@rcbdub.org>.

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