In 1837 Samuel Lewis published his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland and created something of a literary sensation. One contemporary reviewer wrote: "If creating a sensation be the best of the merits of a book, there can be no doubt of the excellence of the volumes before."
The reviewer said the dictionary was a descriptive account "of the several counties, cities, boroughs, corporate and market towns and parishes and villages in alphabetical order".
Out of print for many years, the catalogue price of the original work would come to £400 at today's prices, a little too expensive for most people. To make it more accessible, the Collins Press in Cork has gathered together all the entries on Cork city and county from the earlier work. This has just been published in Lewis's Cork, price £15.99.
The introduction is by Mr Tim Cadogan, librarian with the Cork County Library, local historian, author of Cobh in Old Pictures (1995) and co-author of Tracing your Cork Ancestors (1998).
He tells us that Samuel Lewis, known for his topographical dictionaries, not only of Ireland but also of England, Scotland and Wales, was something of a vague character. While he is not really familiar to us, Cadogan says, he has left a valuable legacy.
"Among the several sources that cast some light on the condition of Ireland in the decade preceding the Great Famine - a period of history on which these years of Famine commemoration have conferred renewed interest and study - none has been so widely consulted by local historians over many years as Lewis's Topographical Dictionary.
"Serving also as an unofficial textual companion to the excellent contemporary Ordnance Survey 6 in maps and blending together statistical, social and historical data, it is a particularly valuable source for Co Cork historians as the county is regrettably deficient in the Ordnance Survey memoirs and letters which exist for other counties," he writes.
The sensation referred to concerned the fact that when it came out, Lewis's book was considered by some to be unreliable. Some people who signed up in advance to buy it refused to pay. There were court cases, but the public was on the side of the book and it was reprinted in 1839. A later edition was published in 1842. Meanwhile, the Cork register of the parish of Holy Trinity (Christ Church) 1643-1699, which has just been published, contains the earliest register of baptisms, marriages and burials recorded by the Church of Ireland.
Dr Susan Hood, assistant librarian and archivist with the Representative Church Body Library in Dublin, describes the register as a rare and important document - one of only five extant Church of Ireland registers to pre-date 1650 - which contains the names of hundreds of Cork citizens who married, christened their children and buried their dead in Cork during the mid-17th century.
From medieval times, the Holy Trinity church was the parish church of the city of Cork. Many prominent citizens, including the Lord President of Munster, Lord Inchiquin, and Lord Broghill, in addition to several of Cork's leading families, such as the Hydes and St Ledgers, were parishioners.
A succession of corporation officers, including mayors, sheriffs, serjeants-at-mace, sword-bearers, recorders and city clerks also had associations with the parish. Its links with the corporation existed since the 14th century.
Specially designated seats were reserved for corporation officers who also contributed to the upkeep and improvement of the church. The corporation also levied a tax to pay for the maintenance of the parish clergy until the early 19th century.