Griffiths
Valuations

Research

Civil Registration

Parish Records

Cemetery Photos

Publishing

Maps

Home

TOWNLAND –  The smallest administrative division in Ireland. It can comprise just a few acres and may have no habitation.

COUNTY –  This division reflects the imposition of the English system of local government in Ireland. It was begun in the 12th century and completed by 1606 with the creation of Co. Wicklow.

BARONY –  A now obsolete division but widely used in the 19th century. Baronies reflected the land holdings of the old Irish Clans. Baronies and Counties were established in the government land surveys of the 17th century.

PARISH – From the 17th century, the so-called Civil Parish was developing in Ireland based on the boundaries of the Church. Essentially, it covered the same area as that of the  Protestant Church of Ireland Parish. Civil Parishes frequently break both Barony and County boundaries, which reveals their earlier origins.

POOR LAW UNION –  Under the Poor Relief Act 1838, Ireland was divided into districts or “Unions” in which the local rateable inhabitants were required to be financially responsible for the care of paupers in their area. The Unions, which did not respect County boundaries, were centered on large Market Towns and with the coming of Civil registration, were divided up into Registration Districts.

Some form of tithe taxation ('one tenth') on farm produce had been in existence for many centuries, but in the 1700s it appears to have been given a more organized format. This tax on all farm produce was used for the upkeep of the Protestant Church of Ireland which was the 'Established' church in Ireland. This tax had to be paid by Catholics as well as Protestants even though the Protestant community were greatly in the minority.  Needless to say, this caused great resentment among the Catholic majority, and tithes were responsible for much agrarian strife.  Between 1823 and 1836, a record of those who were liable to pay tithes was compiled and this became known as the Tithe Applotments. Tithes were taxes based on the amount of land, its quality and the type of crops grown. This document represents a ‘pre-Famine’ Census substitute for Ireland. is in many Irish County Libraries and is available on microfilm at the Irish National Archives. Tithes are a valuable collection of documents in that they record every landholder in the country in the years before the Great Famine of 1845-1850. Here you can expect to find the name of the occupier (not just the owner) of a plot of land, the type and value of land, (boggy or mountain pasture etc), and the name of the townland and parish. This differs from Griffiths Valuation in that only agricultural land holders (and not town and city property dwellers) were recorded in this record.

The Cancellation Books are invaluable in tracing the history of a property and, by so doing, tracing the history of a family. The books are stored in the Valuation Office at Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street in Dublin. Here you can consult the books yourself and color copies of each page can be made for a fee. The color copy is essential as the entries were made in different colored inks down through the years; not in any random fashion but in a very organized way with each color matched to the year the entry was made. Some caution is needed when interpreting the information in these books as the entries were sometimes made in the years after the change of ownership took place.

Films of the Tithes and later Cancellation Books are also available through the LDS Family History Centers around the world.

Even earlier than the Tithe Books are the Freeholders’ Lists. These are lists of people entitled to vote, or of people who voted, at elections. The records are at PRONI but can also be viewed on a searchable database on the PRONI website. A freeholder was a man who owned his land outright (in fee) or who held it by lease which could be for one or more lives (for example, his own life or for the lives of other people named in the lease). From 1727 to 1793 only Protestants with a freehold worth at least 40 shillings a year were legally permitted to vote. Between 1793 and 1829 both Protestants and Catholics with 40 shilling freeholds could vote, but in 1829 the franchise level was increased to 10 pounds, so 40 shilling freeholders were no longer allowed to vote. This last measure increased the influence of landlords by effectively confining membership of Parliament to the propertied or monied classes.

An often overlooked record, but one which really links researchers with the home of their ancestor, is the House Books.  These House Books together with the Field Books and Tenure Books were the original notebooks recorded by the surveyors when compiling the Valuation of Ireland.  In the House Books you will find the exact measurements of the house in question. The three above mentioned records are also kept at the Valuation Office, Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin.