About North County Mayo

There are two primary research centres in Co. Mayo, the North Mayo Heritage Centre and the South Mayo Family History Centre. Due to the high levels of emigration from Co. Mayo, it was agreed that, in order to facilitate genealogy research in a professional manner, two centres be established and the county divided in two either side of a line extending from Newport to Kilmovee.

The Mayo North Old Engine and Tractor Club holds its annual Field Day at the North Mayo Heritage Centre

The northern portion of Co. Mayo is largely rural, but it includes the towns of Ballina, Ballycastle, Belmullet, Charlestown, Foxford, Killala, Newport and Swinford. It is home to leading tourist attractions such as the Ceíde Fields, the Jackie Clarke Collection (Ballina), the Moy fishery (Ballina & Foxford), Foxford Woollen Mills, The Atlantic Drive (Achill), Downpatrick Head and Ballycroy National Park. The Wild Atlantic Way threads along the entire perimeter of our catchment area, and the Great Western Greenway’s Newport to Achill section is a very popular attraction.

The area is divided into 31 civil parishes. Our centre has access to records from a large variety of sources. These include records of church baptisms, marriages and deaths from 31 Roman Catholic and 10 Church of Ireland parishes, as well as 7 Presbyterian and 6 Methodist Congregations. We also have records of civil births, marriages and deaths, graveyard inscriptions from 116 graveyards, and a host of other records. You can see a full list of our available sources on rootsireland here: https://rootsireland.ie/ifhf/online-sources.php

We also have a series of short articles to help you in your research and answer some frequently asked questions about research in north Co. Mayo. You can view these here, and we are always adding new material.

Both Co. Mayo centres have a close working relationship and are founding members of the Irish Family History Foundation.