Valuation Office Tenure Books

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murf
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Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Valuation Office Tenure Books

Post by murf » Sat Jul 07, 2018 2:45 am

I have been searching the Valuation Office Tenure Books online at
http://census.nationalarchives.ie/searc ... _books.jsp
I discovered that although the National Archives holds the Tenure Books for all of Ireland, only a small part of the collection is available online. Moreover, of the 3081 entries online some 2578 entries lie within the Clonderalaw Barony of County Clare. The remaining 500 odd entries are in Co Meath.
From my selfish point of view, the location of this online sample couldn't be better. My current line of research is focused on the townland of Inishdea, in Kilchreest Parish. The Tenure Book entries have valuable annotations pertaining to the present and past lease conditions of each tenement. In the case of Jane Murphy, leaseholder of 22 acres in Inishdea, the notation reads:
"at will 1803..........This farm was let at 40s. per acre up to 1844. It was then reduced to 30s. & raised to 35s. in 1852." The page is dated 9 August 1853.
Would I be correct in supposing that such adjustments to the lease conditions most often happened when there was a change of leaseholder? (eg lease assumed by a son upon the death of his father or widowed mother?)
I realise that rents could be raised on the whim of the landlord, but was the former circumstance more usual?
If so, then these annotations in the Tenure Books could provide valuable clues to marriage and death dates in a period where such data is sparse.

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