If they survive, original burial registers are kept by the local registrar/secretary of the parish. For contact details for Roman Catholic parishes in County Waterford please check the website for the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore, and for contact details for the Church of Ireland, please check the website for the United Dioceses of Cashel, Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Lismore and Waterford.
Grave Inscriptions Database
There are however, many burial grounds for which no burial registers survive, many burial grounds that are closed, or some that are not in the ownership of the local parish. Local community groups and Solas (FÁS) have worked together to clean and record the information from headstones in a number of burial grounds throughout the City and County. The information from this work has been collated and is available in a searchable online database at Waterford City and County Library under the title "Grave Inscriptions Database".
Other digitised resources
As 'Sanitary Authorities', the Board of Guardians in the Poor Law Unions, who ran local workhouses, also became responsible for the operation of some of the burial grounds in the City and County. The City Council also operated as Sanitary Authority, as were the Grand Jury and Dungarvan Town Commissioners. In the early twentieth century, the new County Council, Rural District Councils and Urban District Council established under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, acting as Sanitary Authorities, opened new burial grounds or took over responsibility for some older grounds. These burial grounds became the responsibility of Waterford County Council or of the Town Councils when the Rural District Councils were abolished in 1925.
Waterford City and County Archives has digitised the burial registers that survive from these authorities. The burial registers have been provided as PDF documents (there is not a search facility) but where there is an index in a register, this can be used to locate specific entries. Maps of each of the burial grounds have also been provided. You can click on each of the maps provided and enlarge them to enable individual plot numbers to be visible on the map.
Thompson's Funeral Books
Thompson Funeral Directors in Waterford are one of Ireland's oldest family run businesses and have been providing undertaking services in Waterford City and 200 x 300County for over 225 years from their office in Waterford City and from a branch office in Tramore, Co. Waterford.
Waterford City and County Libraries has undertaken to digitize and publish online in eBook format Funeral Books dating from 1874. These records provide a wealth of detail that contribute enormously to Waterford Studies and adds to our growing digital collections in support of quality social and genealogical research.
The following books are available to researchers on request and can be accessed in the Central Library or Dungarvan Library. Contact the Local Studies Department to make a booking or for further information.