The Wicklow Grand Jury - A collaboration with Beyond 2022

Wicklow County Archives are delighted to be involved in a very productive and enjoyable collaboration which developed in late 2020 with the Local Government Archives and Record Managers (LGARM), the group representing county archives across Ireland (including County Wicklow), and Beyond 2022. Beyond 2022 is an all-island and international collaborative research project working to create a virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which was destroyed in the opening engagement of the Civil War on June 30th, 1922. You can learn more about the project here.

People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History

This collaboration resulted in a successful research showcase entitled ‘People, Place and Power: Grand Jury Records and Local History’, on 25 May, the centenary of the destruction of another great Dublin building, during the attack on the Custom House during the War of Independence in 1921. A precursor to modern local government, the county Grand Juries had a detailed and intimate connection with their local population. While extensive series of Grand Jury records were destroyed in 1922 an impressive amount of replacements survive in county archives and other repositories.

Grand Jury booklet & list

The historian Brian Gurrin (a Wicklow native!) produced a valuable and richly illustrated user’s guide booklet to these records for local and family historians. This is attached below as a PDF or can be downloaded from the Beyond 2022 website here. Also, a preliminary listing of Grand Jury collections held around the country can be viewed here.

Grand Jury Maps resource

In addition, another Participating Institution, the L. Brown Collection, contributed hi-resolution images of wonderfully detailed Grand Jury maps for sixteen counties. These pre-date the Ordnance Survey and are available to view (in great detail!) here.

Wicklow County Archives

Wicklow County Archives are delighted to be a Participating Institution in the Beyond 2022 project – where our digitised grand jury collection will be shared on this highly valuable Virtual Treasury of Ireland. You can find the Wicklow County Archives’ Grand Jury digitised collection here.