Local History

I became interested in local history in the late 1960s both as a hobby and a serious academic study. This was a time when increasing numbers of people were becoming interested in their locality. Since that time many local historical societies have been formed and many now have web sites. These include the Glens of Antrim Historical Society, the Clogher Historical Society, the Donegal Historical Society and the  Lecale Historical Society. Sorry if I have not mentioned your society. The recent web site Celebrating Local History gives an indication of what is going on at the moment in local historical societies throughout Northern Ireland. The Ulster Local History Trust plays its part in supporting local history throughout the province as does The Federation for Ulster Local Studies. Here you will find links to all of the member societies that have web sites.

Since retiring from academic life I have been able to devote more time to local history as a hobby. I have also found that over the last forty years I have accumulated a vast amount of sources relating to various parts of the province where I gave lectures, ran workshops, etc. I thought that some of this material might be of use to people, so I decided to put some of it up on the internet.

I'm beginning with material relating to the area where I was born and lived in from 1940 to about 1960 - Ballymoney, County Antrim. Before you look at the sources you might want to read this on the approach that I tend to follow nowadays when I am investigating a locality. I used this approach when I put together Sources  for the Study of Family and Local History in Ballymoney.