Property Records

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WHAT PROPERTY RECORDS ARE ONLINE?

1. Griffith's Valuation (1847-1864) was a very comprehensive property tax survey published in different years for each county. Transcripts and record images are online free at www.askaboutireland.ie/. Transcripts and record images are also at the paying sites www.findmypast.ie and www.origins.net. Detailed maps accompanied the Valuation. Images of these, contemporary to the publication, appear on www.origins.net, but only for the 26 counties now in the Republic. Maps are available for all 32 counties on www.askaboutireland.ie/, but date from several decades after publication.
2. The Tithe Applotment Books (c. 1823-1838) record the names of those liable to pay tithes to local Church of Ireland clergymen. The tithes were payable by members of all denominations, not just members of the Church of Ireland, since the Church was an arm of the state. But it was only payable on some types of agricultural land, so the Books are much less comprehensive than Griffith's. The Tithe Books for the 26 counties of the Republic are free to search (transcripts with record images) at titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie.
3. The Landed Estate Court took on the process of selling estates that were effectively bankrupt and operated between 1850 and 1885. Its records are online at the subscription site www.findmypast.ie.
 

WHAT PROPERTY RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE OFFLINE?

1. The Valuation Office (www.valoff.ie) has revision books showing all changes in the status of every piece of property recorded in Griffith's, most coming down to the 1960s and 1970s, when the property tax was abolished for private householders.
2. The Land Registry was established in 1892 and records almost all property transactions after that date. Its records of legal title can be searched at www.prai.ie.
3. The Registry of Deeds (see also www.landregistry.ie) was established in 1707 to help give legal standing to the massive confiscations of land from the native Irish over the course of the preceding century. Its records can be very useful indeed for Anglo-Irish landed families between c.1740 and 1840. A volunteer transcription project is at freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~registryofdeeds/.
4. For almost two centuries between 1700 and 1900, the vast majority of Irish people lived as tenants on large estates. The records of these estates, which include many rent books and tenants' lists, are scattered, with the largest holdings in the National Library of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Their online catalogues give some detail. The site www.landedestates.ie gives details of estates and their surviving records for the provinces of Munster and Connacht.