Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837 & Tithe Defaulters, 1831
What are these record collections?
Tithes levied on farm produce to support the local clergy had been a feature of Christian societies since medieval times. Tithe barns for storing the booty were often the biggest buildings in any parish or diocese. From 1823 in Ireland, it was legislated that the tithe was to be paid in cash rather than wheat or lambs etc., and hence this necessitated a valuation of all landholders to calculate the required payments. As the established church, the Church of Ireland required eligible landholders, be they owners or tenants, to pay a proportion of their income as tithes - not very popular with the majority of tenants who were Roman Catholic or indeed of other Christian faiths such as Methodists or Presbyterians. It was especially unpopular with the poorer subsistence landholders who saw large tracts of "less productive" land belonging to richer landholders being exempted from the tax.
The National Archives of Ireland has made the Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-37 for all of Ireland available for free to search or browse online, with images of the original records also available. These records can be searched by name or place or you can simply browse the pages if you prefer. One thing to note with the indexing though, is that the parishes will be those in existence between the dates above, so be sure to check neighbouring parishes if the one you are looking for is not there. Note, however, those rampant exemptions and so not all landholders will be recorded and actually that is all you will really learn i.e. their name and a proxy for the quality of the land they held given the tithe payable. I also recommend that you take the time to roam through all the townlands for the parishes in the area you are interested in as you will often pick up other names that might be connected with your family.
By the start of the 1830's, a great many tenants and land owners rebelled against paying the tithe and you can briefly get an idea of the whys and wherefores of the so-called Tithe War on Wikipedia. Those who refused to pay were duly recorded within the Tithe Defaulters, 1831 (FMP=£) record collection which appears to be exclusively available on Find My Past, despite the original records being part of the collection of State Papers at the National Archives of Ireland? Note, the county coverage for these records is by no means complete - only 11 counties, mostly in the South East, are listed as filters on the Find My Past search screen. Some of the entries make for alarming reading! Here is one sample affidavit from an area I know to have supported a significant Methodist community;
"From the contiguity of this Parish to Newtown Barry where the Resistance to Paying Tithes was attended with such Melancholy Consequences, it would have endangered the Life of any person to attempt to enforce the Law, Therefore no strong measures were resorted to in the Parish of Clonegal or Moyacomb"
Following all these ructions, the government, who had been obliged to compensate the clergy for their missing income, decided to shift the burden on to landlords via rents and tithes were officially dispensed with in Ireland in 1838.
How do you work forwards or backwards from a record in these sources?
I have been unable to find out if the Tithe Applotment books were ever revisited with updates during their compilation and of course some landholders will have changed in the 15 year period they cover. Cross referencing the names and places in these books against the 1831 Tithe Defaulters may help to identify possible time periods for deaths or emigration to have occurred within, but unless burial registers survive to corroborate the former or some form of emigration documentation at destination for the latter, you might be drawing some fairly nebulous conclusions.
Given the time period covered of approximately a decade, you can of course hunt for the townlands in the Townland Indexes of the Registry of Deeds and find out who is named on relevant Memorial Deeds dating from around this time. If you are unfamiliar with this resource, be sure to check out my descriptive pages first before diving into the county timelines.
The next most significant record set to move forward in time to would be Griffith's Valuations, but do bear in mind that from the start of the Tithe Applotment Books (1823) to the last published counties of Griffith's (1864) is 40 years. So, be especially careful in comparing what look like the same names in both sources - it could be the same man or it could be his son named for him?
As the Tithe Applotment Books predate the Great Hunger and the subsequent depopulation of the countryside, it can be a very useful indicator of possible death or emigration if a man is named as being liable for a tithe but there is no subsequent trace of the same family name in the same place by the time of the Griffith's Valuation.
Tithes levied on farm produce to support the local clergy had been a feature of Christian societies since medieval times. Tithe barns for storing the booty were often the biggest buildings in any parish or diocese. From 1823 in Ireland, it was legislated that the tithe was to be paid in cash rather than wheat or lambs etc., and hence this necessitated a valuation of all landholders to calculate the required payments. As the established church, the Church of Ireland required eligible landholders, be they owners or tenants, to pay a proportion of their income as tithes - not very popular with the majority of tenants who were Roman Catholic or indeed of other Christian faiths such as Methodists or Presbyterians. It was especially unpopular with the poorer subsistence landholders who saw large tracts of "less productive" land belonging to richer landholders being exempted from the tax.
The National Archives of Ireland has made the Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-37 for all of Ireland available for free to search or browse online, with images of the original records also available. These records can be searched by name or place or you can simply browse the pages if you prefer. One thing to note with the indexing though, is that the parishes will be those in existence between the dates above, so be sure to check neighbouring parishes if the one you are looking for is not there. Note, however, those rampant exemptions and so not all landholders will be recorded and actually that is all you will really learn i.e. their name and a proxy for the quality of the land they held given the tithe payable. I also recommend that you take the time to roam through all the townlands for the parishes in the area you are interested in as you will often pick up other names that might be connected with your family.
By the start of the 1830's, a great many tenants and land owners rebelled against paying the tithe and you can briefly get an idea of the whys and wherefores of the so-called Tithe War on Wikipedia. Those who refused to pay were duly recorded within the Tithe Defaulters, 1831 (FMP=£) record collection which appears to be exclusively available on Find My Past, despite the original records being part of the collection of State Papers at the National Archives of Ireland? Note, the county coverage for these records is by no means complete - only 11 counties, mostly in the South East, are listed as filters on the Find My Past search screen. Some of the entries make for alarming reading! Here is one sample affidavit from an area I know to have supported a significant Methodist community;
"From the contiguity of this Parish to Newtown Barry where the Resistance to Paying Tithes was attended with such Melancholy Consequences, it would have endangered the Life of any person to attempt to enforce the Law, Therefore no strong measures were resorted to in the Parish of Clonegal or Moyacomb"
Following all these ructions, the government, who had been obliged to compensate the clergy for their missing income, decided to shift the burden on to landlords via rents and tithes were officially dispensed with in Ireland in 1838.
How do you work forwards or backwards from a record in these sources?
I have been unable to find out if the Tithe Applotment books were ever revisited with updates during their compilation and of course some landholders will have changed in the 15 year period they cover. Cross referencing the names and places in these books against the 1831 Tithe Defaulters may help to identify possible time periods for deaths or emigration to have occurred within, but unless burial registers survive to corroborate the former or some form of emigration documentation at destination for the latter, you might be drawing some fairly nebulous conclusions.
Given the time period covered of approximately a decade, you can of course hunt for the townlands in the Townland Indexes of the Registry of Deeds and find out who is named on relevant Memorial Deeds dating from around this time. If you are unfamiliar with this resource, be sure to check out my descriptive pages first before diving into the county timelines.
The next most significant record set to move forward in time to would be Griffith's Valuations, but do bear in mind that from the start of the Tithe Applotment Books (1823) to the last published counties of Griffith's (1864) is 40 years. So, be especially careful in comparing what look like the same names in both sources - it could be the same man or it could be his son named for him?
As the Tithe Applotment Books predate the Great Hunger and the subsequent depopulation of the countryside, it can be a very useful indicator of possible death or emigration if a man is named as being liable for a tithe but there is no subsequent trace of the same family name in the same place by the time of the Griffith's Valuation.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2020
