The Conway & Clohessy Tree

Valuation Office books 1824-1856
The printed volumes of the Primary (or Griffith’s) Valuation, the record of Ireland’s first comprehensive property tax, have been available online for many years now, and are a crucial part of the genealogical infrastructure for the mid-nineteenth century. But the records which underlie and inform the printed valuation have never been digitised until now, and they contain more information about households and landholding than can be found in the printed version.

The valuation of Ireland was made for the purpose of levying tax on property. The initial work of capturing information on every piece of property in the country took place between 1830 and the mid-1860s, and the archives of this work are held by the National Archives. Since that time, the valuation has been continuously revised and updated, and the revision documents are held by the Valuation Office. In general, archives relating to counties now in Northern Ireland are held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland in Belfast, although some are in the National Archives. The work of valuation created a large collection of archives, which are now useful for researchers seeking information on a wide range of subjects, from family history to academic studies. These documents cover the entire country and, while the work was complex and technical, they were made according to a standard method and provide information about families and society at a period when few other sources are extant.

The valuation work was carried out by professional valuators, assisted by other staff, who worked their way through the country, county by county, beginning in the north. The date of the work in each county varies. They recorded the information needed in Field Books, House Books and other documents. The work in the field was undertaken first, then the office work and, following an appeal process, the valuation was finalised.

The Townland Valuation

The Townland Valuation was the first valuation and it took place under Acts passed between 1826 and 1836. The objective was to create a valuation of the entire country in counties, baronies, parishes and townlands. Individual occupiers were not named unless they held a house that was valued at more than £5 after 1836, or £3 before that date. Information on the land was collected, but did not relate to individual farms. Twenty-six counties were valued in this manner before the system was changed.

The Tenement Valuation

The Tenement Valuation was introduced in a piecemeal fashion and, in the beginning, it overlapped with the continuation of the Townland Valuation. The first Tenement Act was in 1846, following partial measures introduced in 1844, and only covered counties not valued by the Townland Valuation (Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford). The Tenement Valuation was extended to the entire country with the 1852 Act. Under the Tenement Valuation, every individual tenement or holding was recorded, including the names of the occupiers, and the documents contain large numbers of names of householders. The field work and office work took place in the same manner as in the Townland Valuation, and the draft valuation prepared for appeals was published as the Primary Valuation, or Griffith’s Valuation. Following the appeals, the valuation was finally settled and recorded in the ‘cancelled books’ now held by the Valuation Office.

There are four distinct kinds of books involved:

Field Books - The Field Books of the Valuation Office are manuscript books that record the information required for the valuation of agricultural land.

House Books - The House Books of the Valuation Office are manuscript books in which information on houses and buildings is recorded. The books include houses and buildings situated in rural areas and in cities, towns and villages.

Tenure Books - The Valuation Office Tenure books are a series of manuscript notebooks in which information required for the Tenement Valuation was compiled. The Tenure Books are also known as Perambulation Books, as the staff ‘perambulated’ or walked around the boundaries of the tenements.

Quarto Books - The Valuation Office Quarto Books are a series of manuscript books relating to the valuation of houses and buildings in towns. The Quarto Books are found in all counties except Leitrim and Sligo, and in some counties only a small number of books survive.

These records contain over 2 million names. They provide a comprehensive assessment of the rental value of Irish lands and property from the mid-1820s to the mid-1850s. The books reveal where and when individuals rented or owned property and provide rare glimpses of life in pre-famine Ireland.