The Griffiths [Tenement] Valuation Books & Maps c.1860

Page 130 from Griffiths [Tenement] Valuation Book [18 th Sept. 1861] for Ballymoney Poor Law Union See next slide for an explanation of this page

As you can see the page is divided into columns. The numbers and letters in the first column, on the left, are used to identify holdings and houses on the six inch maps which accompany the Printed Valuation. Where a person or persons have a holding which is one continuous plot of land it is identified by a number only, e.g. number 1, occupied jointly by James Hamill and Samuel McCrelis. Where a holding or farm consists of a number of plots of land separated from each other within the townland, each plot is identified by a capital letter, e.g. 2A & 2B the farm of Andrew [or is it Adam?] Pinkerton; 4A, 4B & 4C occupied by a James Pinkerton and 6A & 6B the holding of another James Pinkerton, or is it the same James Pinkerton? Lower case letters are used to identify houses. On plot 2A there are two houses – 2Aa the house of Adam Pinkerton and house 2Ab the house of Robert MAnal who was a cottier renting his house from Adam Pinkerton. Only James Pinkerton lived at 4Ba; he does not appear to have had any cottier tenants. The other James had a herds house & cottier houses [plural] at 6Ba. Did this James actually live there? Who was living in the cottier houses? The next column gives the name of the townland or street and the names of the occupiers of the land and buildings. Note, however, that one person could be listed as occupying more than one property in a townland or a street and it must be remembered that, sometimes, the person listed against a holding may not actually be living there, as I hinted at above. Since a herds house was used on a casual and seasonal basis, the name listed in the Griffiths is usually that of the farmer who owned the house, rather than its actual occupant. [continued in next slide.]

The same can sometimes happen in the case of cottier houses, i.e. houses rented by farmers to their labourers. Fortunately, in most rural areas the name listed in the printed Griffith's [Tenement] Valuation is usually the name of the actual occupant. However, the same cannot always be said of streets in towns, particularly those streets which had businesses in them. The next column shows the names of the immediate lessors (i.e. the persons from whom the tenants in the townland rented their land and houses). In this example most of the persons listed here are farmers renting from James S. Moore who is Capt. James Stewart Moore of Ballydivity, a townland situated between Dervock and Bushmills. Note that cottiers held their houses from farmers, i.e. not directly from the head landlord. Some cottier houses had small gardens but this does not seem to have been the case in Seacon More The next column provides a description of the tenement, i.e. the holding. Note that an office is a farm outbuilding. The remaining four columns give details of the size of each holding in acres, roods and perches and a valuation of the property in pounds, shillings and pence. For younger readers there are 40 perches in a rood and 4 roods in an acre. There are 12 old pence in a shilling and 20 old shillings in a pound sterling. Note that no detailed information is given on houses other than their valuation. The valuation can give a clue to what the house might have been like. Four of the seven farmhouses were valued in excess of £3: 2Aa [£3.50] – 3BAa [£3.25] – 4Ba [£4.50] – 7Aa [£4.00]. The valuation of both the land and the farmhouses suggest that this is a townland of strong farmers as opposed to a townland of smallholders.

In an earlier slide I asked the question -Was it Andrew or Adam Pinkerton in No. 2? This page from the VAL/2B Valuers Field Book shows clearly that it was Adam. Nowadays I always check the VAL/2/B book when using the printed book. Mostly, there are no discrepancies but there can be!

There is also another mistake in the printed page. The houses and other buildings at 6Ba on the original manuscript page, shown opposite, have been copied wrongly in the printed page shown on slide 2. Here the houses, etc. are listed as 6Aa, but, when you go across to the Buildings column, the valuation of £2.50 is shown opposite plot 6B. Looking at the valuation map will show you that there are no buildings shown on 6A. Clearly, the printer has made another mistake.

6Ba This is a copy of the VAL/2/A Valuation Map that matches the VAL/2/B Field book and the Printed Griffiths for the townland of Seacon More. I have indicated the location of 6Ba on this map. Clearly it is very difficult to read and things dont get much better on the next slide which shows an enlargement of the area where 6BA is located.

6Ba This map shows 6Ba situated within a cluster of houses that academics now call a CLACHAN which is usually associated with a system of land tenure called RUNDALE. This is consistent with the way that most of the farms in this townland have plots of land scattered throughout the townland. For more information on clachans and rundale, go to

If you go to the askaboutireland.ie website you will be able to see a much clearer map. This map is probably dated 1870/1880 but since there has not been too much change in Seacon More during that period [particularly in the farms] it will match the numbers and lettering in the 1861 Griffiths Printed Book. Whilst looking at the valuation map you can also use the slider in the top right hand corner of your computer screen to look at a modern- day road map of the area and, in particular, at a modern satellite image of the area – and - superimpose these on one another. If you have problems getting to this site and are not sure what to do when you get there, read the paper: Some notes on using the maps on the askaboutireland.ie website. on the main Valuation Records webpage.

Although there were no problems with the Seacon askaboutireland valuation map there can sometimes be a problem. Read this extract from: J. H. Andrews, HISTORY in the ORDNANCE MAP an introduction for Irish readers, published by the Director at the Ordnance Survey Office, Phoenix Park, Dublin, 1974, p to see why. Although there was never more than one edition of the printed books, the information they contained was subject to periodic unpublished revision; at the same time each map was altered, and eventually replaced, to keep up with the changed boundaries and reference numbers, so that today the Valuation Office may contain some half a dozen successive versions of any given six- inch sheet. Bibliographically the most interesting of these is the edition that was lithographed in , with base-map detail transferred from the copper plate and tenement information overprinted in orange. These litho­graphs were produced in small editions of twenty-five copies, and few people outside the Valuation Office seem to have known of their existence. This means that the askaboutireland valuation map could relate to a period at least a decade away from the printed books. In cases where there has been little change since the 1860s to the 1880s this is not a problem. In the general Seacon area the askaboutireland maps are perfectly acceptable, except for the townlands of Ballygobbin and Ballwattick Middle. Note that when you are using the later Revision Books you will probably need to turn to some of the later VAL/12/D maps – see the Griffith's Revisions PowerPoint.

If neither the askaboutireland map or the VAL/2/A were useable I would turn to the VAL/12/D series of maps which are the half dozen or so working maps used by the valuers which Andrews mentioned. Below are the results of an eCatalogue search for the VAL/12/D/1/11 maps which include the townland of Seacon More. Note that an asterisk needs to be used after the 11 in PRONI Ref. search box, otherwise you will not get the full seven maps covering the period 1858 to If you want to match the map with the 1861 Valuation Book then you choose one of the earliest map in the sequence.

Unfortunately the earliest maps have pieces missing within the sheets. For copyright reasons, I cannot use the askaboutireland map and since the VAL/2/A map is just about readable in places, I have created my own map using the OS map of c.1858 and added the valuation numbering and lettering as well as the boundaries of holdings. I produced this map a number of years ago when I was not very familiar with the numbering of the houses in the clachan of five houses so they are not properly identified on the map. It is best for you to go to the askaboutireland map. I intend to update this map shortly.

We now know where 6Ba is located. I am assuming that you can locate 4Ba yourself. We still have the problem of the two James Pinkertons. This can only be solved with basic genealogical data – so have a look at the BDM paper. There is a link to it on the main Valuation Records webpage. We have no name for the occupant, if any, for 6Ba, but we will, when we look at the Griffiths Revision Books. The other question still outstanding is who was living in 4Ba & 6Ba in The next slide contains the Form B1, House & Building Return of the 1901 Census which lists the names of the head of household on each property. As it stands, it is not possible to identify the two houses we are looking for. To know which of these people were occupying 4Ba & 6Ba we will need to look at the online Valuation Revision Books – PowerPoint No. 4. Before going to PowerPoint No. 4 you might want to know more about the 4Ba & 6Ba houses listed in the 1861 Valuation. If so, go to PowerPoint No. 3 which deals with the earlier 1833 Townland Valuation.

One change we can see here is the fact that there are only three farmers * listed in the townland in The other eight households are cottiers. Which of these people were living in 4Ba and 6Ba?