Griffith's Valuation 1848–1864

Primary Valuation of Tenements 1848–1864
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Of the Irish records available to the genealogical researcher, one of the most useful is the Primary Valuation of Tenements carried out between 1848 and 1864. This listed every property holder in the country, with details of their houses, outbuildings, fields and gardens. The purpose of the vast survey was financial; to estimate the net annual value of every property in Ireland and determine the local taxation rate payable by each householder.

The survey is commonly known as Griffith's Valuation after Sir Richard Griffith who oversaw the work. Griffith, by training an engineer and geologist, was an administrator of exceptional energy.....The Valuation was compiled on a barony basis and further subdivided according to townlands, civil parishes and the electoral divisions of Poor Law Unions.

In the printed version the first column heading is number and letters of reference to map which refers to the location of the tenement on the 6’’ to the mile townland maps. Under the column description of tenement, land and buildings are included, and under the column net annual value, the annual rent expected, including maintenance and taxes and excluding the tithe rent, is given.The basis of Griffith's survey is the townland, the smallest unit of civil administration in the country. Ireland is the only country to have townlands; their origin dates back at least to Anglo-Norman times.

Within each townland is listed the full name of each person holding land with the exact area given in acres, rod, and perches. One rod is equal to a quarter acre which is equal to forty perches. People with land in more than one townland are listed in each and the townlands are arranged alphabetically within their civil parish. Parishes are arranged within their baronies, and baronies are arranged by county.

Of course, with the passage of time, landowners died or bought and sold properties, even during the decade and a half that the survey lasted. In order to keep up with these changes the taxation officials kept manuscript copies of the original valuation books and entered new details as appropriate. They used different colors of ink and tried to preserve them as neatly as possible. Inevitably the books became rather confusing and difficult to read. When the finished books were published the information was as up to date as possible while the old "cancelled" books for individual districts were kept together in bound volumes in the Valuation Office.

Griffith’s Valuation provides detailed information about land tenure, names of lessors and occupiers, their land and buildings. It records the occupier’s name, the extent of his holding, and the immediate landlord who is not necessarily the owner. However, one must bear in mind that it does not carry names of married sons or daughters for example, who may also occupy the dwelling.

The information on towns is equally important, as the individual tenements were arranged according to streets. It is the only general assessment of land values in Ireland.The Valuation represents an impressive undertaking in terms of land survey and the amassing of valuable social and economic data. Its value to those seeking information on their ancestors is obvious, although it goes further by providing a detailed snapshot of Ireland in the years following the Great Famine. In this sense it can be regarded as more than just a taxation survey; it serves also as a census of Ireland during the 1850s, a period of social change when emigration was at prevalent, especially in the west and southwest.

The population of Ireland, which had numbered over eight million in the 1841 census, had been reduced by two million between 1845 and 1850, by a combination of emigration and deaths from starvation and disease.

In succeeding decades this outflow of people continued as landlords cleared people from their estates and more efficient large-scale grazing operations replaced intensive cropping of small holdings. By 1911, the population was just under 4.5 million, a little over half that of 1845. There are many complementary genealogical sources, including church registers, census returns, and tithe applotment books, but Griffith's Valuation retains a special place in the estimation of most researchers, perhaps attributable to its all-Ireland basis.