What is a Land Record Search?

Land records might sound a bit boring but they can actually be really important in tracing your ancestors and making a connection with their origin. Land records make it possible to locate the actual homestead where your ancestors lived.

Click here to watch Sara Gore of NBC LX New York television finding her ancestor’s home.

The following land records are offered as searches which cover the period from the 1820s right up to the late 1980s. It is possible, once a specific townland location has been found, to follow the land records from the Tithes of the 1820s through Griffith’s in the mid-1800s and onwards through the Valuation Office Revision Books to the 20th century up to the 1980s

Land Records 1820s

Tithe Applotment Books

Tithes were a church tax on one's annual income from farming. From the time of the Reformation they were designated for the upkeep of the Church of Ireland clergymen in each parish. As the Church of Ireland was the state or Established church, parishioners were liable for tithes, irrespective of their religious denomination. They are usually arranged by townland, stating the acreage held by each farmer and the tithes due. Many also indicate the quality of the land and the annual value. Most are dated in the 1820s and early 1830s.

If your ancestors were located in Griffith’s Primary Valuation (a land record dated in the mid-1800s) it is possible to examine the Tithe Applotment Books for the same location to see if the family name was present in the townland at this earlier time.

Click here to order a Tithe Applotment Books Record Search with Records Ireland.

Land Records 1848 - 1864

Griffith's Primary Valuation of Ireland

What it is

Griffith's Primary Valuation was a survey of land and property holding undertaken in Ireland between 1848 and 1864. Its purpose was to assist in calculating and collecting rate payments (a local levy used to finance services). In the absence of complete surviving census of Ireland for the 19th Century, this survey tends to play an important role in tracing family history.

How to search it

Within each county of Ireland the survey is organised by civil parish (a division based on the parishes of the Church of Ireland). Within each civil parish the survey is organised by townland (the smallest administrative division in Ireland consisting in effect of a small village or group of farms)

The Survey is indexed and can be searched by name and by location. It can be used to find a particular family or individual, or to investigate who was the occupier in a particular location at the time of the survey.

The details it includes

The survey includes the following details in relation each property listed:

The name of the occupier/tenant and the name of the owner/landlord
A description of the property by reference to a number of standard categories eg. house, offices, land, water, garden, mountain, mill.
The total area of the property in the land measures of the time – acres, roods and perches
The Rateable Valuation of the property - a measure of the overall value of the property (taking all its features into account) by which the level of the rate payment due from the occupier was measured. The LAND and buildings are valued separately.
The plot reference for the property on the ordnance survey map of the townland.

The different counties of Ireland were surveyed on a staged basis in the sixteen-year survey period. The year of survey thus depends on the county in question. Once a family holding has been identified it can be traced forward through to the 20th Century by examining the ‘Valuation Office Revision Books’.

It is also possible to gain an insight into the system of landholding in a particular townland in the earlier part of the 19th Century by examining the Tithe Applotment Books.

Click here to order a Griffith's Primary Evaluation Record Search with Records Ireland.

Land Records 1850s - 1980s

Valuation Office Revision Books

What are these books and what can they be used for?

If you found your ancestor in Griffith’s Primary Valuation

You can follow the development in their holding through the years by examining the Valuation Office Books

If you have a location for your ancestor at any time AFTER Griffith’s Primary Valuation

We can examine the books to see if they held land/property at this location.

How it works

The ‘Revision Books’ of the Valuation Office record the details of land/property holding in Ireland from the time of Griffith’s Primary Valuation (1848-1864) through to the late 20th Century.

For each plot of land/building in the country, the books keep a continuous note of changes in the details of the occupier/tenant and the owner/landlord.

Each amendment/change marked in the books is dated by year. If you follow a family holding through the years for example, the year of change in the books (from one family member to another) suggests the timing of succession from one generation to next.

The information in books is broken down in the same way as in Griffith’s Survey:

Name of occupier and name of owner
A description of the property by reference to a number of standard categories eg. house, offices, land, water, garden, mountain, mill.
Note of the total area of the property in the land measures of the time – acres, roods and perches
The Rateable Valuation of the property - a measure of the overall value of the property (taking all its features into account) by which the level of a rate (tax) payment due from the occupier was measured. The land and buildings are valued separately.
The plot reference for the property on the ordnance survey map of the townland.

The details shown in the books can be very helpful in researching a family. The date of change from one occupier to another can for example assist in death and will record searching. In itself, a copy of an ancestor’s listing in the books is a vivid and attractive record. The books were maintained in a handwritten colour-coded format and colour copies of the original pages can be taken up once located.

Click here to order a Valuation Office Revision Record Search with Records Ireland.

Townland Maps

Each of the listings in the Valuation Office Books has a reference that corresponds to their location on the Ordnance Survey map of the period. It is possible to obtain copies of these old Ordnance Survey maps in the Valuation Office. The maps actually include the boundaries of each holding appearing in the Valuation Office Books. In this way it is possible to discover the exact location of your ancestor’s holding.

These maps also include other interesting features such as School Houses, Graveyards, Abbeys, and outlines of some buildings are included as well as roads, lakes, rivers, bridges, mountains and villages. It is possible, once your ancestor’s townland and plot reference have been identified, to have such a map outlining their holding and showing their neighbourhood.

Click here to order a Townland Map with Records Ireland.

Discovery Series Maps

If you are coming to Ireland and wish to visit your ancestor’s homeplace (identified in the old Ordnance Survey map above) and are having difficulty with identifying it on modern day maps we will be happy to obtain a modern Discovery Series Map of the local area and mark out the location for you.

Click here to order a Discovery Series Map with Records Ireland.