Property valuation of 19th century Ireland free online

GRIFFITH'S VALUATION, the most detailed guide to people and property in mid-19th century Ireland, has gone online for free for the first time. One of the most important surviving genealogical sources from the era after the Famine, the valuation is likely to be of use to family history researchers in Ireland and throughout the world.

The version available on the askaboutireland.ie website is searchable by family name and place name; copies of the original document can be printed off; and the website also includes maps from the mid-19th century and contemporary maps from Google Earth.

Over the past year, however, the Library Council of Ireland has spent €230,000 on digitising its copy of the document and making it available online. The work was also undertaken to ensure the document remained in the public domain.
"We're committed to retaining and enhancing public access to important source documents such as Griffith's, and ensuring they do not go back to private copyright," said Annette Kelly, assistant director of the Library Council.

Griffith's Valuation was the first full-scale valuation of property in Ireland.
The work was overseen by Richard Griffith, a Dublin geologist, and published between 1847 and 1864.
It delivered the information necessary for local taxation by providing a uniform valuation of all property in Ireland based on the productive capacity of land and the potential rent of buildings. The document lists every landholder and householder in the 32 counties, and is arranged by county, barony, poor law union, civil parish and townland.