Archaeological Survey of Ireland facts for kids

The Archaeological Survey of Ireland (ASI) is a special group that keeps track of all the important old buildings and places in Republic of Ireland. It's part of the National Monuments Service, which helps protect Ireland's history. The ASI looks after a huge list of over 138,800 ancient sites and monuments, mostly from before the year 1700.

How the Survey Started

The Archaeological Survey of Ireland has a long history of protecting Ireland's past.

Early Days (1930s)

• The survey first began in 1930.
• It was started by a group called the National Monuments Advisory Council.
• In 1933, they set up a main archive.
• This archive collected information about old sites.
• Harold G. Leask helped lead this important work.

Field Surveys Begin (1960s)

• The Archaeological Survey of Ireland was restarted in 1963.
• They began sending people out to find sites in 1965.
• The first county they surveyed was County Louth.

Creating the Records (1980s-1990s)

• In 1982, they started making detailed lists.
• These lists were called the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR).
• They finished these county-by-county lists by 1992.
• Later, these lists became the official Record of Monuments and Places (RMP) in 1994.
• The RMP includes short lists and maps for each county.

Sharing Information About Sites

The ASI also works to share what they find with everyone.

Publishing Inventories

• In 1982, a decision was made to publish books.
• These books would list all the archaeological sites.
• They hoped these books would help people learn about the sites.
• This would help protect them from being damaged.
• The first book came out in 1986 for County Louth.
• So far, there are 21 volumes covering many counties.

Detailed Surveys

• The plan was also to publish more detailed surveys.
• Only one such detailed book has been published by the government.
• It covers County Louth and came out in 1989.
• This book was inspired by similar surveys.
• Those earlier surveys covered County Down (1966) and County Donegal (1983).

Accessing the Data

You can look at the information collected by the ASI.

Historic Environment Viewer

• The SMR data can be seen online.
• It's available through the Historic Environment Viewer.
• This viewer also shows information from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
• That inventory covers buildings from after 1700.

Open Data

• The SMR data is available for everyone to use.
• It's released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
• This means you can use it, but you must say where it came from.
• However, maps from the Ordnance Survey Ireland are not covered by this license.

See Also

• National Monuments Service
• Record of Monuments and Places