LAND RECORDS
Tithe Applotment
Books.
Griffith's
Valuation.
Indexes
to Griffith's and Tithe Books.
Valuation Office
Records.
Estate Records.
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Valuation Office Records
The Valuation Office, set up to carry out the original Primary Valuation, is still in existence, and has two related sets of records which are potentially valuable. The first of these are the notebooks used by the original Valuation surveyors, consisting of field books, house books and tenure books. All three record a map reference for the holdings they deal with, as in the published Valuation. The field books then record information on the size and quality of the holding, the house books record the occupiers' names and the measurements of any buildings on their holdings, and the tenure books give the annual rent paid and the legal basis on which the holding is occupied, whether by lease or at will.
The tenure books also give the year of any lease, useful to know before searching estate papers or The Registry of Deeds. As well as containing information such as this, which does not appear in the published Valuation, the valuers' notebooks can also be useful in documenting any changes in occupation between the initial survey and the published results, for instance if a family emigrated in the years immediately before publication, since they pre-date the final publication itself by several years. Unfortunately, they are not extant for all areas. The National Archives now houses those which survive for the Republic of Ireland. Those covering Northern Ireland are now to be found in The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland .
The Valuation Office itself, at the Irish Life Centre, Abbey Street Lower, Dublin 1, contains the second set of useful records. These are the Cancelled Land Books and Current Land Books, giving details of all changes in the holdings, from the time of the Primary Valuation up to the present day. Any variations in the size or status of the holding, the names of the occupier or lessor, or the valuation itself are given in the revisions carried out every few years.
The Books can be very useful in pinpointing a possible date of death or emigration, or in identifying a living relative. A large majority of those who were in occupation of a holding by the 1890s, when the Land Acts began to subsidise the purchase of the land by its tenant farmers, have descendants or relatives still living in the same area. The Cancelled Land Books for Northern Ireland are now in The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
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