Heritage and roots

Tracing Northern Ireland roots

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) is in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. You can walk in without booking, and much of the planning can start on its online catalogue.

Facts checked 1 November 2026 against the sources listed at the end. Britlens is independent: see our editorial policy.

The angular Titanic Belfast building in the Titanic Quarter, the Belfast district where PRONI is based
Photo: Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

PRONI: the archive

PRONI is the national archive of Northern Ireland, part of the Department for Communities. Its eCatalogue can be searched online, and the site has a family and local history section. [1]

The archive holds public records, such as those of Northern Ireland government departments, and private papers such as letters and diaries, mostly from about 1600 to the present. It focuses on today's Northern Ireland but also holds some papers about other parts of Ireland. [2]

PRONI centres on Northern Ireland: if your family came from the counties now in the Republic of Ireland, check the Irish authorities' records as well.

Visiting

PRONI is at 2 Titanic Boulevard in the Titanic Quarter, about a mile from Belfast city centre, in a building it has used since 2011. [2]

  • Booking: not needed for a standard visit; you can just arrive. [3]
  • Registering: you register as a Reader when you arrive to use the Search Room and Reading Room. [3]
  • Cost: visits to the Search Room and Reading Room are free. [3]
  • Opening hours: check PRONI's own opening hours page before you go; we did not read them.

For the area around it see Titanic Quarter: things to do.

The Linen Hall Library building on Donegall Square North, Belfast
Photo: Man vyi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Places to add to the trip

  • Linen Hall Library, Belfast: the city's oldest library and the last subscribing library in Northern Ireland. See Belfast city centre.
  • Belfast Central Library: a public library on Royal Avenue, opened in 1888. See Belfast city centre.
  • Titanic Belfast: on the former Harland & Wolff shipyard site. See Titanic Quarter.
  • Dunluce Castle: ruined medieval seat of Clan MacQuillan on the Antrim coast. See Causeway Coast.
  • Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra: a day trip from Belfast. See our Northern Ireland guide.
A small stone church re-erected at the Ulster Folk Museum, Cultra
Photo: Gareth James, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick answers

Do I need to book to visit PRONI?

Not for a standard visit. You register as a reader on arrival, and the search and reading rooms are free. [3]

Where is PRONI?

At 2 Titanic Boulevard in Belfast's Titanic Quarter, about a mile from the city centre. [2]

Gerelateerde gidsen

Bronnen

Read on the dates shown. Rules, dates and services change: check the source before you rely on it. Pages marked “not read” refused automated access, so we state nothing from them.

  1. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (opens in new tab), PRONI (Department for Communities), read 1 November 2026
  2. Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (opens in new tab), Wikipedia, read 1 November 2026
  3. Your visit (opens in new tab), PRONI, read 1 November 2026