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The
Griffith Valuation Of Ireland
General valuation
of rateable property in Ireland.
Griffith's
Valuation. What is it:
Sir Richard
Griffith's "Primary Valuation of Tenements, 1848-1864" was undertaken
to assess property and to assign tax. Since the destruction of the Public
Record Office in 1922, the valuation is an important source for tracing
families living in Ireland about the middle of the nineteenth century.
In addition to giving the name of each occupier or tenant, it gives
the name of his townland or city location, the area and value of his
land holdings.
TERMS USED:
Parish :
The civil parish
is a state unit of territorial division for census and valuation purposes.
The ecclesiastical parish is a unit of church administration and generally
includes a number of civil parishes.
Barony:
Over 300 in
all, representing land divisions of great antiquity based on the Gaelic
clan and family holdings.
Townland:
This is the
smallest administrative division of land in Ireland, with an average
area of 350 acres.
Union:
This refers
to the Poor Law Union, constituted under the Poor Law Act of 1838, dividing
the country up into districts in which those local people who paid tax
were responsible for the upkeep of the poor.
HOW TO USE
IT:
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In order
to use the index, the searcher must know the county from which his
ancestor originated. If the place name, but not their county name,
is known, check Samuel
Lewis Topographical Dictionary Of Ireland. This will identify
the status of the place and its location by Barony, Union, Parish
and Province.
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Having
established the county, for example, we are looking for someone
with the surname Heather in the county of Antrim. Begin by checking
the index to surnames by county. This follows the "Introduction"
on the fiche. Here, you find the surname followed by the barony.
e.g. Heather Up. Massereens. This will be followed by a "g" and/or
"T". "G" shows that the name occurs 5 times within the barony. A
"T" refers to the Tithe Applotment Books, the manuscripts for which
are kept at the Public Records Office in Dublin. If a "T" is shown
without a "G", then the name given will NOT appear in the valuation.
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Having
established the name of the barony in which your ancestor's surname
appears, go back to the Contents page which follows the map and
the index to the map on the fiche. From this you can get the page
numbers for the barony where your ancestor's name occurs. e.g. Up.
Massereene p. 269-293.
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Now you
are ready for step 2. Move ahead to the end of the surname index
for the county. This is an index of surnames by parish under barony.
The pages are numbered on the top right hand side The parishes are
in alphabetical order after the name of the barony. Make note of
the parish or parishes in which your ancestor's name appears. The
name 'Heather' appears in Blaris parish.
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Now go
back to the page on which the index of surnames for Blaris parish
begins. At the heading you will find the following information.
Blaris parish (part of) Upper Massereene Barony, Lisburn Union.
Co. Antrim Fiche 13 D 6. Now go to Volume 1 of the Valuation looking
for County Antrim. Pull out the fiche 13 as shown on the top border.
Using the left hand margin as a guide, move down to D and then count
across 6 single pages. Here you have the valuation for Blaris Parish,
and are ready to start looking for the name Heather. If you already
know the townland, village or city where she lived within the parish,
you can find the name quickly. If not, you must go through each
division within the parish.
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