Explanation of Townland Sheet

Introduction

The following information, transcribed from the Cancelled Land Books, relates to twenty-four townlands on the Errismore peninsula and the eastern shore of Ballyconneely Bay for the period 1872 to 1891.

The Cancelled Land Books, also known as the Valuation Office Revised Books, are updated versions of Griffith’s Valuation and date from 1850s to the 1970s. The manuscript books show any changes to occupier, landlord, tenement, size of holding or rateable valuation that occur during that time. The books are housed at the Valuation Office Dublin and are currently only available to visitors to that office: see http://www.valoff.ie/en/Archives_Genealogy_Public_Office/

For further information on the Primary Valuation, also known as Griffith’s Valuation: see

https://www.nli.ie/en/griffiths-valuation.aspx

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/what-is-griffiths-valuati/

Every effort has been made to transcribe the handwritten material as faithfully as possible, but we acknowledge that some mistranscriptions may have inadvertently taken place.

Twenty-four Townlands

The townlands, listed below, comprise the Electoral Divisions (EDs) of Bunowen and Doonloughan, located in the parish of Ballindoon, the Union of Clifden and the Barony of Ballynahinch, County Galway.

Electoral Divisions are the smallest legally defined administrative area in the State for which Small Area Populations Statistics (SAPS) are published from the census: see http://census.cso.ie/censusasp/saps/boundaries/eds_bound.htm

ED BUNOWEN

Townlands –

Aillebrack

Ballyconneely

Bunowen Beg

Bunowen More

Callow

Dolan

Doohulla

Emlaghmore

Foorglass

Shannagower

ED DOONLOUGHAN

Townlands –

Ballinaleama

Creggoduff

Doonloughan

Emlagharan

Keerhaun South

Keerhaunmore

Knock

Leaghcarrick

Lehid

Mannin Beg

Mannin More

Pullrevagh

Silverhill

Truska

Explanation of townland sheet:

The information in columns A to I is as it appears on the original page of the Cancelled Land Books. Columns J to L, headed, Information not on original sheet, and sub-headings, Information & Comment, Year of changes and Changes made, are added to provide explanation and clarification.

Each entry highlighted in blue shows the entry as it was in 1872; all following entries show any alterations made and the year this change took place.

The following is a brief explanation of the material found in each column. For a more full explanation and a better understanding of the information given on the page see:

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/understanding-the-valuati/

A. Reference to map

This gives Sheet Number for the Ordnance Survey map for this townland and the lot number for the individual holdings.

In several townlands, a specified land holding is held in common by a number of named tenants. These are individually numbered in some instances and may perhaps be sub-divided again by letters. In other instances several names appear under one number, when no individual letters are given, letters in brackets, e.g. [a], have been introduced by the author for simplification: in all cases, letters without brackets are as they appear on the original page; letters within square brackets are introduced for clarification.

B. Townlands and Occupiers

This column is shown at Occupiers by the author and gives name of the occupier of the holding. In cases where several occupiers of the same surname appear in the townland, it was common to give the father’s or mother’s first name, or in some case a recognised family identifier, in brackets after occupiers name (e.g. Michael King (Pat), James Meally (Mary)), Michael Conneely (Tailor). This can be helpful to individuals engaged in family research.

C. Immediate Lessor

Names the person that the occupier was leasing the property from, this may be the outright owner of the property or a middleman subletting his holding.

Terms sometimes used in this column are:

“Reps of”, this is an abbreviation for “Representatives of”, indicating that the individual named was dead at the time of the valuation and his or her legal interest in the holding was being represented by a family member or by an executor;

“in Chancery”, meaning that the property is the subject of a legal dispute;

“in fee”, meaning that the occupier is also the legal owner of the property;

“free”, meaning that the occupier has no lessor, but no formal legal title, in effect squatting.

D. Description of Tenement

Gives description of property being valued. “House” covers all buildings used permanently as dwellings, as well as public buildings; “offices” usually describes farm outbuildings such as a stable, turf shed, cow barn, store, or piggery.

E. Area

The area of land held by the occupier. This is given in acres, roods and perches (there are 40 square perches to a rood and four roods to an acre).

Land held in common by several occupiers is highlighted in grey.

F, G & H. Rateable Annual Valuation

Land, Buildings, Total

The taxable (or rateable) value was the income that the property could reasonably be expected to produce in a year. For buildings, the construction materials, age, state or repair, and dimensions were factors taken into account. For land, the soil quality, average rents, aspect, and distance from market were all taken into account.