Containing more than 1500 names, the registers of the French Church of Portarlington, co Laois, have been released on FindMyPastIreland. They date from 1694 to 1816.
Portarlington started out as a small settlement and grew to become not only a centre for education in Ireland (it had 16 schools by the mid-18th century, including some that taught only in French and Latin) but also a distinctly French village.
Evidence of this Gallic history can still be seen in the style of architecture and the name of streets such as French Church Street.
The record collection now available on FindMyPastIreland was published by the Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1908. This volume was edited by Thomas Philip Le Fanu who describes how and why the Huguenots came to settle in Portarlington, and the influence they had on the town.
The registers recorded in this collection date to September 1816 when the last entry in French was made.
This release is the second this month to concentrate on Irish-Huguenots. FindMyPast have also released the registers of the French Non-Conformist Churches of Dublin 1701-1831.
