There is exciting news from the principal repository of records in Northern Ireland; that is, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) in the city of Belfast. First, the PRONI (as it is often called) is getting a new home in 2011. The move will mean that is present Balmoral Avenue site will be closed to the public between September 2010 and May 2011, but likely the new facilities will be worth the inconvenience. The PRONI is already a very friendly, efficient, organized repository to use, but I suspect this will allow additional improvements in its services. Plus, at the same time the second piece of news from PRONI will be unfolding – increased access to its records online!

The online resources already available on the PRONI web site include:

- Will Calendars for District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry from 1858 to c.1900.
- Index to pre-1858 wills (in the “Name Search” database)
- Ulster Covenant and Declaration (1912) signed by some 471,000 men and women.
- Freeholders Registers and Poll Books (pre-1840)
- Ulster street directories, 1819-1900

Future online resources will include:

- Wills and Administrations from District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry from 1858 to c.1900.
- 1740 and 1766 religious census returns (in the “Name Search” database)

Watch the PRONI web site for further developments. If you need records from PRONI, ProGenealogists can get them for you! Just fill out an estimate request, and we will get back to you about the details.

As a side note, the PRONI focuses on records from the six counties of Ireland that remained part of the United Kingdom when the island split politically in 1922 – Counties Antrim, Armagh, Derry (Londonderry), Down, Fermanagh, and Tyrone. It also has some material relating to the whole historical province of Ulster, which includes in addition to those six counties, Counties Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan. Those three counties today are in the Republic of Ireland.