The Archaeological Survey of Ireland is a unit of the National Monuments Service, which is currently managed by the

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage ( ga, An Roinn Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitiúil agus Oidhreachta) is a department of the Government of Ireland. It is led by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage who is ...

. The unit maintains a database of all known archaeological monuments and sites in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

that date from before 1700 with few selected monuments of the post-1700 period. The database has more than 138,800 records related to archaeological monuments. The Archaeological Survey of Ireland was founded first in 1930 by the National Monuments Advisory Council when the National Monuments Act 1930 came into effect. A central archive was established in 1933 under the direction of the Inspector of National Monuments, Harold G. Leask, to collect published materials about all archaeological sites and monuments. After refounding the Archaeological Survey of Ireland in 1963, field surveys began with

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

in 1965. The compilation of the ''Sites and Monuments Record'' (SMR) started in 1982 with per-county lists that were completed in 1992. These lists were later used for the statuary ''

Record of Monuments and Places The Record of Monuments and Places (RMP; ga, Taifead ar Shéadchomharthaí agus Áiteanna) is a list of historical and archaeological sites the Republic of Ireland established under the National Monuments Acts. It can be consulted in county libr ...

'' (RMP) that was established by the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, consisting of brief per-county lists and associated maps. In 1982, the Commissioners of Public Works decided to publish a series of archaeological inventories, designed to be comprehensive listings of all sites but providing only very brief summaries. The inventories came with the hope to raise awareness for the monuments to defend against the increasing destruction of vulnerable sites. The series started in 1986 with County Louth. Currently, it consists of 21 volumes, covering, at least partially, 16 of the 26 traditional

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of the Republic. In a subsequent phase, a series of much more detailed archaeological surveys was to be published. Currently, only one such volume, covering County Louth, was published by the government in 1989 that was inspired by the previously published archaeological surveys for two

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

counties:

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

(1966) and

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

(1983). The SMR dataset can be accessed through the Historic Environment Viewer that supports also the data from the ''

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) maintains a central database of the architectural heritage of the Republic of Ireland covering the period since 1700 in complement to the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, which focuses on arc ...

'' (NIAH) of the post-1700 heritage. The dataset has been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence which, however, does not cover third party materials like the maps of the

Ordnance Survey Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ga, Suirbhéireacht Ordanáis Éireann) is the national mapping agency of Ireland. It was established on 4 March 2002 as a body corporate. It is the successor to the former Ordnance Survey of Ireland. It and the ...

Notes

References

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External links

Historic Environment Viewer application

Digitised dataset of the records of the Archaeological Survey of Ireland

Record of Monuments and Places
Archaeology of Ireland Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Heritage registers in the Republic of Ireland