This was posted to another list and I thought it might be of interest. ---------------Original Message--------------- Taken from PRONI : Local History 2 The vestry was an assembly of parishioners which met to discuss parochial business and took its name from its meeting place - the vestry or room in the church in which the priest`s vestements were kept. The vestry could raise funds for local services such as poor relief, parish constables,road repair, the organisation of education and the provision of recruits for the army. The selct vestry was a small committee which could levy taxes for religious purposes - the maintenance of the church and the payment of the parish officers such as the sexton and the parish clerk. The money which the churchwardens spent on behalf of the parish was raised largely from the parish cess, a local tax on householders, and from a lesser extent from the sale of seats in the parish church. The applotment, or assessment, of the parish cess, which appears periodically in the churchwardens account books or the vestry minute books, is a valuable record of the local community. Following the abolition of the penal laws, membership of the general vestry was open to all householders in the parish irrespective of their religion although its proceedings were effectively controlled by the Protestant minority since all officers had to be members of the Church of Ireland. The records of the transactions of the vestries, essentially vestry minutes and churchwardens` accounts, provide an important and much under-used resource for all local communities and their inhabitants. They complement the basic information which can be found from the registers of baptisms, marriages and burials by providing additional details of the activities and circumstances of the residents of the parish. Inevitably vestry records are richest for the cities and large towns; vestry records for rural parishes tend to be less rewarding. Many of the vestry minute books only cover the last 100-150 years. There are, however, exceptions such as the Parish of Shankill in Lurgan, whose minutes go back to 1672 (ref MIC.1E/33) and the vestry minute books for Christ Church Cathedral which date back to 1675 (MIC.1/4). In order to identify which records exist for a particular area and for what dates you should consult the Guide to Church Records. The guide lists, alphabetically, churches of all the main denominations who have records deposited at PRONI, and is available on the shelves of the Public Search Room. Alex Hughes >from Ayrshire, Scotland Searching for Duncan,Bleakie,Bruce,Kilpatrick,Campbell,Fairley,Milne,McKechan, Jamphray,Strathern,Kelso,Smith & Auld in Scotland Searching for Hughes,Hughs,Graham,McCutcheon,Donaghy,Irvine,Dorian, Kelley & Black in Ireland ----------End of Original Message----------