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Primary Valuation of Ireland: Griffith's Valuation

© Leona MacDonald

Griffith's Valuation or the Primary Valuation of Ireland was compiled between the years 1848 to 1864 . The information is arranged by county. Within each County the information is broken down further by Poor Union's and further to Parishes. Once you find your parish you will see the data to look through. Items included are: Townland, ordinance survey number, plot number, householder name, owner of property or the person from whom the property was leased, description of the property, acreage, and the valuation in pounds. When I was looking up sites for this article I found what I thought was edited information. I then learned the dreaded truth, the search engines are giving you the Householders Index instead of the Valuation sites. Then I found I had to really dig to find you some useful sites. The article took a bit longer than I thought it would. :-)

The Householders Index is a different animal than the Primary Valuation. The index is a set of books that contain all the names mentioned in the Primary Valuation. Each county has it's own separate index or book. The information contained within the Householders Index:

• how many times a surname appears in each Barony of the covered County
• how many times a surname appears in each Parish of the covered Barony
• which Union Book refer to for details relating to each of the householder's
• a notation as to weather the name is included in the Tithe Applotment Books

The Tithe Applotment Books covers the years from 1823 to 1837 They were compiled to determine the amount of tithe that the occupiers of agricultural lands should pay to the Church of Ireland (Protestant church at that time). These books contain the names of occupiers, the amount of land they occupied, and how much they tithed to the Church.

In my little mind Griffiths covers more years than are generally thought. It may be useful for you for researching Irish families that fall within the 1823 to 1864 range. You should look in Griffith's Valuation for anyone that might fall near those dates. You might just find them and a little bit more than you thought you might if you are clever.

Having said all this you can find more on how to read The Primary Valuation of Ireland or Griffith's Valuation at the following URL's.

PRONI http://proni.nics.gov.uk/research/family...

Griffiths Valuation's On-line

Griffith's Valuation - County Roscommon http://userweb.interactive.net/~mailman/...

LEITRIM-ROSCOMMON Griffiths database http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/GRIFFIT...

Southwest Limerick http://www.geocities.com/jackreidy/grifi...

The Parish of Outeragh, County Tipperary, Ireland http://www.ancestordetective.com/ireland...

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