Property records

The destruction of 1922 has lent an unnatural importance to two sets of records dating from the early and mid nineteenth century, respectively the Tithe Applotment Books of 1823-1838 and Griffith’s Primary Valuation of 1847-1868.

The Tithe Books comprise a parish-by-parish survey carried out to determine how much would be payable by each landholder who was liable They are patchy, with many exemptions, but they constitute the only country-wide census substitute for the period. Microfilm copies are available at the National Archives, the National Library. the LDS and PRONI (for the six counties of Northern Ireland).

Griffith’s Valuation is far more substantial, recording almost all occupiers of property in Ireland in county-by-county volumes published between 1847 and 1868.

The Land Valuation Office has a set of the revisions carried out on the original Valuation, which can be used to trace descendants up to the mid twentieth century.