Tithe Applotment Books 1823-1838

The tithe was not a tax but a charge upon land. The tithe system, which nominally earmarked one-tenth of the produce of the land for the maintenance of the clergy, was introduced in England as early as the eighth century. It was introduced to Ireland during the reign of Henry II, although it was not paid outside the area around Dublin until the reign of Elizabeth I. In Ireland, because the tithe system was used for the upkeep of the Established Church only, it caused a great deal of unrest among Roman Catholics and Presbyterians.

Until 1823, the tithe was paid in kind by occupiers of land to the Established Church [churchlands and towns being exempt]. Between 1823 and 1838 a series of Tithe Composition Acts led to payment in kind being replaced by payment in cash. This change necessitated the valuation of the individual townlands within a parish liable for tithe. The results of this valuation were recorded in the Tithe Applotment Books and these are organised by barony and parish. There is not a separate book for each townland. All townlands within a parish are in one book. Note also that in Co. Derry some townlands were not in the same parishes in 1823/38 as they were in the Griffith's Valuation of 1858/59- see Townlands in Co. Londonderry and their Administrative Divisions for details.

The original books are held in PRONI and are catalogued under FIN/5/A. Note that the books are also available on microfilm in PRONI - MIC15AA. In fact the FIN/5/A series is now closed and you will have to use the microfilm version. The books contain lists of names but it must be remembered that these only include the landholders, or to be more accurate the persons who held the leases in the various parts of a townland. In my experience, the persons listed in the Tithe Applotment Books are usually the main leaseholders in the townland at that time. These leaseholders would have been responsible for collecting the tithe from any sub-tenants. Also, the fact that a name is listed in a particular townland does not necessarily mean that the person lived there. Nevertheless, the Tithe Applotment Books are a valuable source for a period where evidence is scarce. Note that I am using the term leaseholder rather loosely here. Many 'leaseholders' in some townlands were merely tenants-at-will i.e. they did not have a proper lease. They held their land on an annual basis. In fact in townlands where this was prevalent, more names are usually listed.

Below is a copy of part of a page from the Tithe Applotment Book for the Parish of Maghera. It lists the landholders liable for tithe in part of the townland of Gorteade, near Upperlands in South Derry. The total acreage liable for tithe is shown in column three, followed by columns which give a breakdown of the acreages of different qualities of land within each holding. Note that all of these acreages are in Irish acres. The final column in the original document [not shown in this copy] states the amount of tithe to be paid per acre on each holding. The average tithe per acre was around one shilling - five new pence in today's decimal currency. Multiplying the acreages in the Tithe Applotment Books by 1.62 will convert them to English, statute, acres. In other areas of the county, such as the townland of Lisbunny in the parish of Cumber Upper, the acreages were given in Cunningham acres, which is a Scottish measure. Multiplying Cunningham acres by 1.3 will convert them to English, statute, acres. In my experience the acreages given in Co. Derry parishes tend to be in Plantation acres [i.e. Irish acres] whereas those in Co. Antrim tend to be in statute acres [English acres] or Cunningham acres [Scots]. For an excellent short paper on the historical background to these various measurements read this paper What size is an acre? by George Gilmore of Garvagh Historical Society.

As many of you probably know there is a database of of the names in this source available from Irish World that covers the six counties of Northern Ireland. Ballymoney Ancestry includes some parishes for the Ballymoney area on its site. So far, I have databased the names in the Tithe Applotment Books for the parishes of Ballymoney and Kilraghts. There is a link to this database in the left-hand menu of the website.

Finally, the PRONI Information Leaflet on the Tithe Records is worth a read.

Copyright 2011 W. Macafee.