Carlow Genealogy Tours
My Ireland Heritage find your Ancestors and exact house location from the 1700’s to the late 1800’s, and all available records in Ireland. We are an Irish family business dedicated to assisting you in your Irish Genealogy research for your roots and records of your family history of past generations in Carlow, as well as providing you with a once in a lifetime Irish Genealogy tour experience to visit your families original family house and Walk in the Footsteps of your Irish Ancestors.
Sean and the Team at My Ireland Heritage are a Government certified & approved Genealogy & Touring Company, and will personally guide you on the journey into your Irish ancestry to any County in Ireland.
Many companies are genealogy research only, many companies are touring companies only, we at My Ireland Family Heritage are proud to be able to encompass your research and tour together enabling us to work with you throughout the process to customize your tour with you and for you. To achieve a full genealogy tour experience consider adding one of our one-day historical tours.
Our Tours
Our Ancestral Townland Experience Tours
County Carlow may be one of Ireland’s smallest counties in area, but its compact size is an advantage for family history research, parishes sit close together along the River Barrow, and much of the county’s surviving genealogical record has been well studied by local historians. Carlow’s story is one of Norman settlement, monastic foundations and a long agricultural tradition, with many emigrant families leaving from farms around Tullow, Bagenalstown and Carlow town itself during the 19th century.
For descendants tracing Carlow roots, the challenge is rarely a shortage of records, it’s making sure we’re searching the right church for your family rather than simply the civil parish printed on an official document. A single civil parish in Carlow can straddle several Catholic or Church of Ireland congregations, and we’ve learned through years of fieldwork exactly where those boundaries fall in practice. Once we’ve confirmed the correct parish, we locate the graveyard your family used and, wherever records allow, the townland and homestead itself.
A tour through Carlow lets you walk the same riverside lanes, market squares and country roads your ancestors knew, from the shadow of the Blackstairs Mountains to the banks of the Barrow, a genuinely personal way to experience a county so many visitors pass through without ever really seeing.
- Carlow has 7 Baronies
- Carlow has 48 Civil Parishes
- Carlow has 54 Electoral Divisions
- Carlow has 603 Townlands
- Carlow has 5 sub townlands
The Brownshill Dolmen is a megalithic portal tomb situated, in County Carlow, Ireland. The capstone at Brownshill, weighing an estimated 100 metric tons, is reputed to be the heaviest in Europe. The tomb is listed as a National Monument.
It was built between 4000 and 3000 BC by some of the earliest farmers to inhabit the island. There are 180 of these Portal Dolmens (From the French meaning Table) mostly in the Northern part of the Island and are built just after the period of Newgrange (see our 9000 Years Historical County Meath Day Tour) It is also known as Brownshill Portal Tomb, so-called because the entrance to the burial chamber was flanked by two large upright stones supporting the granite capstone, or roof, of the chamber. The capstone is thought to have been covered by an earthen mound and a gate stone blocked the entrance.
Family Dynasties 1500-1600 AD
- Irish –O’Moore
- Norman – De Lacey, Le Gros , Riddelsford, Alyward
- Scottish – None
County Carlow – Things to do and may be possible to include within your Ancestral Townland Experience Tour
- Ireland’s Ancient East
- Carlow County Museum and Genealogy records
- Ducketts Grove Castle
- Brownshill Dolmen
- County Carlow Military Museum
- Cathedral of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary
- Oak Park Forest
- Millford Mills
- Carlow Castle
Frequently Asked Questions
Carlow is a small county, does that make research easier?
In some ways, yes. Parishes are closer together, which helps once we’ve identified the right one, though it still takes careful cross-checking against civil parish boundaries to avoid searching the wrong church.
Can you help me find a specific townland near Tullow or Bagenalstown?
Yes, locating the exact townland is central to what we do, and both areas have well-documented 19th-century records we regularly work with.
What time of year is best to tour County Carlow?
Late spring through early autumn gives the best access to rural graveyards and countryside, though we can tailor a visit to your schedule year-round.
