In a message dated 19/01/2009 19:23:30 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Would it be productive to do research in London? I would appreciate any research and/or travel suggestions. London can be as good as Dublin for research, depending on which specific records you want to look at. The LDS centre in South Kensington has an enormous collection of Irish records in stock. For example, all the Irish BMD indexes, all the Irish Birth records 1864-80,1900-1913,1930-1955. Marriages 1845-70, Deaths 1864-70. Gort RC records. If you know which records you would want to look at in Ireland, check if they are available on LDS film, then check against the London catalogue _www.hydeparkfhc.org_ (http://www.hydeparkfhc.org) This is the flagship LDS library outside the US and they have made a deliberate effort to stock as many Irish films as possible. There are still records that are only available in Ireland, of course, but if you can determine what exactly you want to look at, you will have a better idea of how and where to best spend the time. Shannon airport is ideal for Gort, as someone pointed out, and there is a bus always waiting just outside to take you to Gort - about an hour. Belfast is a different option altogether, as far as research goes. Necessary if you have Northern Irish ancestors and want to look at certain records, such as the Revisions, but if you just want to cover Gort, then you would do much better in London or Dublin. Dublin has the Valuation Office, the National Library and the National Archives. Without knowing exactly which records you want to see - and you will need to have a really good idea if you can only spare a day or two - it's difficult to be more specific. If you do have a definite agenda, contact me off-list and I will see if I can help. Cathy ( from just outside London)