Westmeath 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 Westmeath, 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 Westmeath sits at the heart of Ireland’s midlands, its landscape dotted with lakes and centred on the River Shannon town of Athlone, which straddles the border with County Roscommon. Westmeath’s farming communities were shaped by generally good land, and its parish records reflect a mix of long-settled families and later arrivals, with steady emigration thinning rural townlands from the Famine period onward.
As in most Irish counties, Westmeath’s civil parishes don’t always align neatly with the church congregation a family actually attended, and we take care to confirm the real parish behind your family’s records before identifying the specific graveyard and townland. Westmeath’s lakes, including Lough Ennell and Lough Owel, shaped settlement patterns in parts of the county, with some communities more oriented toward lakeside access than a straight-line distance to the nearest town might suggest.
A Westmeath tour takes in the county’s quiet lakeland scenery and the historic town of Athlone, arriving at your family’s specific townland. Sitting at the crossroads of Ireland’s midlands, Westmeath offers a grounded, genuinely rural setting for descendants looking to reconnect with the farming communities their ancestors left behind.
- Westmeath has 12 Baronies
- Westmeath has 64 Civil Parishes
- Westmeath has 106 Electoral divisions
- Westmeath has 1349 Townlands
- Westmeath has 6 sub townlands
County Westmeath is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Midlands Region. It originally formed part of the Historic Kingdom of Meath. It was named Mide because kingdom was located in middle of Ireland as the word Mide means middle. The population of the county is 88,396.
Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, the territory of the Kingdom of Meath was subsumed into the Lordship of Meath and granted by King Henry II of England, in his capacity as Lord of Ireland, to Hugh de Lacy in 1172. Following the failure of male heirs, the Lordship was split between de Lacy’s great-granddaughters.
Family Dynasties 1500-1600 AD
- Irish – O’Farrell
- Norman – De Tagmon (Timmins), Nugent
- Scottish – None
- Viking – None
County Westmeath – Things to do and may be possible to include within your Ancestral Townland Experience Tour
- Derryglad Folk & Heritage Museum (Athlone)
- Athlone Castle (Athlone)
- Old Kilbeggan Distillery (Kilbeggan)
- Irelands Ancient East
- Church of Saints Peter & Paul, Athlone (Athlone)
- Glendeer Pet Farm (Athlone)
- Belvedere House Gardens & Park (Mullingar)
- Dun na Si Amenity & Heritage Park (Moate)
- Tullynally Castle & Gardens
- Fore Abbey
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Athlone considered part of Westmeath or Roscommon?
Athlone straddles the border, with parts of the town in both Westmeath and Roscommon, which is worth knowing if your family’s records mention it.
Do Westmeath's lakes affect how communities and parishes were organised?
In some areas, yes, with settlement patterns oriented around lakeside access, which we factor into research where relevant.
Can a Westmeath tour be combined with a Roscommon or Longford visit?
Yes, given the shared midlands geography and close borders, we can build a combined itinerary where family history spans these counties.
