In today’s world of mobility, many of us have lost the identity that for centuries our ancestors had as most families lived, married and died in the same locality.

This has given rise to an enormous interest in recent years in individuals wanting to attach a geographical as well as a social identity to themselves and to learn about their ancestors. This may be why you have visited this website and are now reading about what might be involved, perhaps because you either lack the experience, have insufficient time to carry out the research yourself, want to give a loved one an unusual gift or you have hit a brick wall in your research.

At Blake Court there is over 30 years of experience in family research, which began as in most cases with the founder, Alistair Quinlan’s desire to know more about his own family roots.

Your family history need not be restricted to names and dates. Using various sources of information you can discover their social background, where they lived and what they did for a living.

Our expertise lies in tracing ancestors with British and Irish roots despite a fire in Dublin during the Irish Civil War in 1922, destroying many of the Irish State records.

We have also completed a limited amount of research in Germany, the United States and Australia.

Researching your ancestor’s lives can be so very rewarding and can often help you to understand things such as tales of family folklore as well as revealing facts about which you had previously been unaware.

Please read through the following pages of information, which it is hoped will answer all of your questions. However, if there are any gaps in our information, please do not hesitate to use the Contact page and ask us directly.