The Memoirs, compiled between 1830 and 1840 under the general direction of Lieutenant (later Sir) Thomas Larcom, were written descriptions intended to accompany the Ordnance Survey maps (containing information that could not be fitted on to them.)
The Memoirs act as a nineteenth-century Domesday Book, and are a unique source for the history of the northern half of Ireland before the Great Famine - one that is essential to the understanding of the cultural heritage of the northern counties of Ireland.
Arranged on a parish basis, volumes in the series generally follow a particular pattern and record - natural features (hills, lakes, bogs, woods, climate, etc); modern topography (towns, public buildings, mills, gentlemens’ seats, bridges, roads, markets and fairs, etc); the social economy (local government, dispensaries, occupations, the poor, religion, emigration, habits of the people - dress, food, customs, etc); and ancient topography (antiquities and ancient monuments).
They therefore document a great wealth of information about the landscape and about society in the 1830s and provide much more detailed information on the daily life of the inhabitants than any census could hope to do.
As the project progressed it became obvious to the surveyors that the detailed memoir work could not be sustained along with the surveying and eventually the work virtually ceased in 1840. By this time only the Province of Ulster had been covered (included some parishes in Counties Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan) as well as some parishes in Counties Leitrim, Louth and Sligo.
Only one volume was ever published before the surveying project came to an end, that of Templemore (including the city of Derry), County Londonderry. In the 1990s the remaining Memoirs were published in 40 volumes by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, along with an expansive index running to over 100,000 entries for people and places.
These 40 volumes are available to purchase through the Ulster Historical Foundation’s online bookstore.