PROJECTS

Clans of Ireland is currently involved in its most significant and ambitious project to date. The project consists of the transcription and publication of Roger O’Farrell’s great genealogical compilation, Linea Antiqua. 

This genealogical compilation was drawn up in 1709 by Roger O’Farrell, collating together many genealogical pedigrees of leading Irish families. 

Drawing from no longer extant Irish language pedigrees and other sources, Linea Antiqua is unique in that it is compiled in English rather than Irish which was still the standard language for genealogies to be written when focused on Ireland’s Gaelic families.

Over the centuries Linea Antiqua has been used extensively by genealogists and historians, most notably by Sir William Betham (Ulster King of Arms) and used by John O’Hart in his well-known book Irish Pedigrees (1876). The manuscript of Linea Antiqua is held by the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland (formerly the Genealogical Office) at the National Library of Ireland, at shelf-mark MS 155.

Clans of Ireland, in conjunction with generous financial support offered by private donors, are working towards the full publication of Linea Antiqua, complete with a detailed introduction. 

It is a core part of the Clans of Ireland’s mission to promote the serious study of Ireland’s Gaelic past and an important element of this is to bring primary source material to the public in order to foster future research and aid a new generation of scholars and genealogists.

It is hoped that the publication of Linea Antiqua encourages the scholarly appreciation of Ireland’s rich genealogical tradition which is indispensable in the study of Irish clan and family history.