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The news that the 1901 census has been released online will come as good news to some of Ireland’s huge diaspora – considered to be somewhere in the region of about 80 million – more than 14 times the size of our population. However it will also come in handy for members of this site who may be trying to track down the history of their cottage.

Discovering the age of your cottage is much like trying to uncover your family tree, the further you go back the more difficult it becomes. As a general rule, cottages are an architectural style all of their own, transcending the years and fashions. The style is rarely indicative of its age, a larger style cottage may be deceptive as it could have started out as a two bedroomed cottage and have been extend over the years as the inhabitants became more affluent to become a thatched mansion. Conversely, that run down turf shed or ruin on your land could be a cottage hundreds of years old who’s owners fell on hard times. The following are some of the best ways of tracing the age of your property: