Family and Local History
[Bill Macafee's Website]

c.1860 Griffith's [Tenement] Valuation

In contrast to the earlier Townland Valuation of the 1830s, this later valuation undertaken during the period 1848–64, gives a more complete list of occupiers of holdings and houses in each townland within Ireland - read more. Given the absence of Census Enumerators' Returns for the nineteenth century,this valuation is seen as a Census substitute. Manual searching of the printed books can be very time-consuming and it is very easy to miss a name. Below are links to databases containing indexes of names and places covering North and Mid Antrim and the County of Londonderry - read more. Note that the PDF files are very large [16MB each] and may take some time to download

Once you have identified names within the databases you can then find out more detail about individual householders at askaboutireland.ie [Griffith's Valuation]. This site is both free and very user-friendly. It contains a searchable database of the names of both the occupiers of holdings & houses and the immediate lessors. In addition you have access to scans of any page from any printed Griffith's Valuation book in Ireland and, usually, scans of the relevant six inch valuation map accompanying the printed valuation. This will allow you to locate any house and farm within any townland at that time. Note, however, that there are no large scale town maps on the askaboutireland site.

Askaboutireland.ie states in its Search Tips: The map collection for Northern Ireland is still being added to. While the majority of maps for Northern Ireland are available, there are some sections which do not as yet have an associated map link. This will be resolved as quickly as possible. At the moment the following sheets are missing from Co. Londonderry [sheets 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and the western half of sheet 17]. Note also that sheets 24 to 45 which cover Mid Antrim are OS maps [not valuation maps] and, therefore, do not contain any numbering of holdings and houses. Despite these few temporary omissions, the askaboutireland.ie website is a must for both family and local historians

You will also find examples of actual pages from the Griffith's Printed Valuation, plus the accompanying valuation maps at the Localities link in the top menu.

Using the Griffith's Revision Books [c.1860-c.1930] it is possible to chart the changes in properties within a townland or street during the latter part of the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. This information can also be matched to the 1901 and 1911 Censuses. Click on the Localities link in the top menu for more details on this process