Ballymoney workhouse register database

The new English system of Poor Law administration was applied to Ireland in 1838. Destitute poor who were previously granted relief at parish level were to be accommodated in new workhouses. Ireland was divided into 137 Poor Law Unions. These ignored traditional divisions, such as the county, barony and parish, and were centred on a market town where a workhouse was built. Each workhouse kept registers of those admitted to it.

This database includes the first workhouse register for the Poor Law Union of Ballymoney and covers the years 1843-49. 5,000 names are given. In many cases the address of the inmate is simply given as ‘Union at large’. This has been abbreviated to ‘U’ in the database. The Poor Law Union of Ballymoney extended into County Londonderry to include the area around Kilrea. The original register is in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland under reference BG/5/G/1.

These records reproduced with kind permission of Deputy Keeper of Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.