Trying to find the graves of our ancestors in the 19th century or earlier in Ireland can be frustrating. Even if they were buried in a recognized graveyard, they may not have had a headstone, or if they did, it may be no longer readable. Where an individual is buried is not recorded on a civil death record in Ireland. With regard to Catholic burials, the majority of the Catholic churches in Ireland did not keep a record of burials. There are exceptions, however. A good place to check is IrishAncestors…click on the Sitemap, then on the Roman Catholic Parish map. Next, click on the area where your ancestors lived. In Leitrim for example, if you click on Rossinver, you’ll get a list of what records are available, the years covered and where they are located. Notice there are no burials. If you are looking for Church of Ireland (look under Civil Parishes and Church Records) there will be burial records, however many of the records were lost in the Public Record Office Fire in 1922, so records may not begin until the 1870's or 1880's.
From my personal research, Longford and Westmeath also have burial records. It's important to know what records have survived so you don't waste time looking for something that doesn't exist.
I’ve been looking for my 3rd great grandparents graves for years in Leitrim. Mathew and Isabella Mackey/Mackay lived and died in the northern part of County Leitrim, near Kinlough in Rossinver parish. I have both their death certificates (from the 1870s), but had no idea where they were buried. In 2012 my husband and I visited the Parish Church of Rossinver (where records don’t begin until 1878) and met the parish secretary who opened up the church. She then took us to the Old Kinlough Cemetery where the stones in many cases were broken or overturned and even the ones standing were difficult to read. No Mackeys to be found. We also visited the New Kinlough Cemetery, but no luck there either.
Well, Surprise! Now I know why! They were buried in the Parish Church of Kilbarron (Church of Ireland) in County Donegal. You won’t find this listing in any of the large online databases but rather it was in the local Ireland Genealogy Projects Archive for Donegal, compiled by local residents. (To find the listing for your County, check the Links and Resources page for your County.) The parish records for Kilbarron were not at the Public Records Office in 1922 and survive back to 1812. My Mathew was born about 1783, so that doesn’t take me back far enough, but I was hoping that maybe his children were baptized there. The only one I know for sure is my 2nd great grandfather, James, born about 1830 and, he wasn’t in the records. I did find a number of Mackeys, but none with parents of Mathew and Isabella. I did find a burial record for an Isabella Mackey, age 32 from Kinlough who was buried on 8 Feb 1859. That would make her birth about 1827, being the right age to be a sibling of James. Isabella, wife of Matthew was the mother of James, and James named one of his daughters Isabella. I also found other family members buried in Kilbarron…my 2nd great grandparents, James and Rachel and their son Henry. I wrote to the Rector to ask is there was a gravestone in the cemetery giving him the specifics, but received an email back stating the same information I originally sent along with a request for money.😒 In 2023 visiting cousins in Fermanagh we went to the church, but found no gravestone (my luck).
It is important to look at a map and to check the surrounding parishes for records, even as I discovered in an adjoining parish or county. Your family's townland might have been closer to the church in the next parish. That wasn’t the case with the Mackeys, as there were at least two Church of Ireland Churches between where they lived and Ballyshannon. There must have been some connection between the family and Ballyshannon…I just haven’t figured out what it was!
In November of 2023 John Grenham posted a blog titled We still give birth, get married and die under the Poor Law. When using the civil registration indexes (IrishGenealogy.ie) the locality listed is the Poor Law Union (PLU) also referred to as the Superintendent Registrar’s District. This is not necessarily where your ancestor lived and can cause confusion. If this is your starting point, you may not be looking for records in the right place. Take my Johnstons as an example. They are listed in the Registration District of Ballyshannon. Ballyshannon is a Town in County Donegal, but my ancestors were in County Leitrim. When the Poor Law Unions were created in the 1830s they were located in Market Towns and ignored Townland, Parish and even County borders. The Ballyshannon Poor Law Union covered portions of Donegal, Fermanagh and Leitrim. When I identify a locality for my Irish ancestors I list it as Townland, Civil Parish and County. This would be similar to a US locality of Town, County and State.  My great grandmother was born in 1871 and her birth was registered in the Superintendent Registrar’s District of Ballyshannon.
The Registrar’s District listed at the top of the page was Kinlough in the Superintendent's District of Ballyshannon. Rather than traveling to Ballyshannon to register the birth, there were sub-districts where the events were registered. The sub-district Registrar would send his registrations to the Superintendent, who would compile all of the sub-districts and send the final list to Dublin. Can’t find your ancestor? There were multiple opportunities for a name to get left out or mis-transcribed. However if you look at the image of the registration for the birth of Rachiel [sic], the place of birth was Laughta [sic] the townland. By checking John Grenham.com, Laghta (the official spelling) is in the Civil Parish of Rossinver in County Leitrim.
  So my locality information is, Laghta, Rossinver, Leitrim. Why is this important? In this case there are no surviving Church of Ireland records prior to 1877. If I want to continue my research on this family, let’s say in Griffith’s Valuation, I would need to know the Civil Parish and Townland, not the Poor Law Union. If I was looking in Ballyshannon (the town), I wouldn’t find the family, or if it was a common surname, it wouldn’t be the correct family. Understanding the various jurisdictions in Ireland and how records are kept is critical for your research.
  One last thing which pertains specifically to the Ballyshannon Superintendent Registrar’s District. If you are searching at FamilySearch for Civil Births, Marriages or Deaths, they have incorrectly identified Ballyshannon as being in County Kildare. I have made multiple attempts to get this corrected at FamilySearch without luck. And, yes…I have seen a number of Family Trees with this family located in Ballyshannon, Kildare. Another surprise! That will definitely cause problems researching your family!
Happy Hunting!
Starting your Irish research? Check out my Irish Quick Reference Guides PDF Bundle.
Preparing for Success in Irish Research
Irish Civil Registration and Church Records
Land, Tax and Estate Records in Ireland