Researching in Dublin

If ever you need an excuse to hop on a plane and head to Ireland, go for research. Although a lot of information can be found online, there is lots to be found in person as well. Not to mention, you can experience your ancestral home in the process.

I am currently in Ireland doing research. I started by driving to Tynagh in County Galway in order to visit the Workhouse Centre in Portumna. The research I am doing in on workhouse girls, so I wanted to go and tour an actual workhouse and gather information. I made sure to take my notebook with me to the workhouse so that I could jot down information. I also took pictures that I could reference for later against my written down notes.

The tour helped me gain more perspective into the life endured in Irish workhouses, and I learned some stories that emphasize the type of life that people lived while there. They also had some information about the Earl Grey Girls, who were the immediate predecessors of the girls that I am researching. Their experiences have been more thoroughly researched, and can grant important understanding of the experiences of the girls that came after them.

When I moved onto County Wicklow, it was mainly for my own fun and vacation. Though, that does mean that I will inevitably do something related to history. One of my friends, who lives in Wicklow, suggested that I go to the Wicklow Gaol. This was actually something that helped me with my research without me planning on it. Many inmates from the gaols around Ireland were transported to Australia, including female inmates. Their experiences would have also been similar. The diseases that were rampant in the gaols were the same ones that made their way through workhouses and on Emigration ships. I made sure to make note of the important pieces of information that I could use.

Now I'm in Dublin. Today was my first day working in the archives as I arrived too late on Saturday to be able to utilize the library. I was able to find some records that suggest that the forced Emigration of young women from the workhouses continued even into the 1880s. Most of the records I looked at today were on the computer at the library. My reader's ticket was expired, so I held off ordering physical records until I could get it updated. I probably won't have time to see everything that I want to from the National Library in this trip. However, that just means that I have to come back, which isn't too much of an issue as I love coming. I will also be back in Dublin in April for the 2026 Dublin Research Tour.

There are still a few spots available for that research tour, so if you've wanted to research in the archives now is the perfect time! Feel free to reach out for more information.