LAND RECORDS
Tithe Applotment
Books.
Griffith's
Valuation.
Indexes
to Griffith's and Tithe Books.
Valuation Office
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Griffith's Valuation
In order to produce the accurate information necessary for local taxation, the Tenement Act of 1842 provided for a uniform valuation of all property in Ireland, to be based on the productive capacity of land and the potential rent of buildings. The man appointed Commissioner of Valuation was Richard Griffith, a Dublin geologist, and the results of his great survey, the Primary Valuation of Ireland, were published between 1848 and 1864. The Valuation is arranged by:
and lists every landholder and every householder in Ireland. Apart from townland address and householder's name, the particulars given are:
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- name of the person from whom the property was leased (immediate lessor);
- description of the property;
- acreage;
- valuation.
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The only directly useful family information supplied is in areas where a surname was particularly common; the surveyors often adopted the Gaelic practice of using the father's first name to distinguish between individuals of the same name, so that John Reilly (James) is the son of James, while John Reilly (Michael) is the son of Michael.
A more detailed account of the content of the Valuation can be found here.
Copies of the Valuation are widely available in major libraries and record offices, both on microfiche and in their original published form. The dates of first publication will be found under individual counties.
The Valuation was never intended as a census substitute, and if the 1851 census had survived, it would have little genealogical significance.
As things stand, however, it gives the only detailed guide to where in Ireland people lived in the mid-19th century, and what property they possessed. In addition, because the Valuation entries were subsequently revised at regular intervals, it is often possible to trace living descendants of those originally listed by Griffith. (See Valuation Office Records)
The Surnames section of this site provides counts of the number of households of a particular surname recorded in the counties and civil parishes of Ireland, based on the returns of Griffith's Valuation.
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