1. What it is and how to use it.
Griffith's Valuation
What it is and how to use it.

2. A history.
Griffith's Valuation was a boundary and land valuation survey of Ireland completed in 1868
Sir Richard John Griffith
It recorded who owned the land and if they rented the site.
It lists who the landlord is of that individual, and how much they paid or rented for the plot of land and buildings on it.

3. USES:
It can be helpful in finding your ancestral grounds, if you are able to find a connection via other records to that particular family member.
It can be used to establish the wealth and/or profession of particular ancestors.
A very good source for finding names in areas predating the census
For example, if you know the registered birth place of an ancestor, you can search the valuation for that area, and find ancestors and their lands.

4. The site. http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/
It provides a simple search engine, with the most basic option of searching for a surname.
Advanced options allow for a full name search, a county search, and a barony/parish/union search
It is helpful to use this site to find out the townland and parish information to enter, as it can help narrow down your search, or it offers a map of townlands, if you find an ancestors plot of land.

5. A rood is a quarter of an acre A pole is 1/40th of a rood
The search results will have many options. There will be a list of names, and the parish they lived in. there are then two options.
View a map, or view the document.
The document has a lot of information. Itll be a list compiled of all landwoners and who they pay rent to, ie landlords.
The valuation tells of what is on the property, ranging from no land, indicating fields, to houses, gardens and offices. House will be clearly indicated on the map
The letters A, R, and P, in the area section stand for acres, roods and poles
An acre is 4840 sq yards.
A rood is a quarter of an acre
A pole is 1/40th of a rood

6. Brackets denote relationships – land managed by multiple people, ie a family or community, or owned by the same person.
There may be more then one type of land owned by a person, so it has a separate row for area and price. This divide is based on soil quality. A grade or B grade.
Lower case letters denote what house a person lived in on the map.
Finally there is the value of the land, in the form of Pound (£), shillings (s) and pence (d). Buildings and land are valued seperatley, and then together

7. The Map The key in the valuation is the key to the map.
The corresponding lot, and subdivisions appear on the map view, along with the buildings per site
For example, the larger lot 7 is divided into 7A and 7B, each with its own tenants. The reason for this is because a person may own multiple plots of land
Within this, a farmers house will be marked as “a” and any other buildings on the lot are then ranked “b” “c” etc.