Pre-publication records

Over the 16 years before publication began in 1847, the various valuations produced large quantities of records.
 

1831-1838

The pre-1838 valuation of the northern counties, based on the £5 building threshold, created local valuators’ “house books” and “field books”, the former including the names of occupiers, the latter concerned purely with soil quality. The originals are in the National Archives of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, with microfilm copies in the LDS Family History Library. They are particularly useful for urban or semi-urban areas in northern counties before 1838. In addition the 1831 valuation of Derry City has been published by The Genealogy Centre and is available on microfiche at the LDS Library.

1838-1844

Between these years the valuation concentrated on the counties of Leinster and Connacht again producing “house books” and “field books”, though the house books are now officially concerned only with substantial structures worth more than £5. Some buildings below that threshold are also recorded, however, since it was necessary to carry out an assessment to determine whether a building should be included.

1844-1864

After the change in the basis of assessment in 1844, the main categories of valuators’ notebooks continued to be known as “house books” and “field books”, but the distinction became more than a little blurred, with information on occupiers appearing in both. Other classes of notebook were also created:

•            Tenure books, showing landlord and lease information;

•            Rent books, showing rents paid, as an aid to valuation;

•            Quarto books, covering towns,

•            Perambulation books, recording valuators’ visits, and

•            Mill books.

There are far fewer of these than of the “house” and “field” books. Copies of all of them are available at National Archives, the LDS Library, though not in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, with some still in the Valuation Office itself.