Griffith’s Valuation Co. Clare - dates of signing off by R Griffith

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Sduddy
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Griffith’s Valuation Co. Clare - dates of signing off by R Griffith

Post by Sduddy » Fri Sep 23, 2022 12:03 pm

Thanks to Paddy Waldron’s reply to Jimbo on the subject of dates of publication of Griffith’s Valuation (see posting made Sep 09, 2022, page 41 of the topic of “Information is wanted of Thomas McNamara, of Glandree”: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6965&start=600) , I have been able to find the dates of publication of the Valuations of the various Unions in Clare. Here is the posting made by Paddy Waldron:
Jimbo, Griffith's Valuation for the Barony of Pubblebrien, including the parish of Mungret, is dated 9 Nov 1850. I was able to establish this using the trick outlined by John Grenham at
https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2017/0 ... precisely/
I choose the slow route, as tedious tasks don’t feel so tedious to me – I’m no longer in a hurry. So I went to www.askaboutireland.ie and skipped “Names” and and clicked on County and Union, of which there are ten listed (Gort Union and Limerick Union, in so far as they pertain to Co. Clare, are included). In the case of each Union, the first page of valuations that came up was close to the beginning of the volume (book), so there was not much work involved in going back a few “Previous Pages” to the page with the date of completion. First I clicked on Ballyvaughan Union and got page 2. The two previous pages are the Index listing all the Parishes and Townlands. The next previous page is blank. The next previous one provides a form for appealing the Valution. The next previous one is blank. The next two previous pages are an outline of the General Valuation of Ireland. The next previous page is a notice signed by Richard Griffith (see below*). Finally, the next previous page, or opening page, is the one with the date. In the case of Ballyvaughan it is 28 June 1855.
All the other Unions were equally easy for me (being in no great hurry).
Corrofin Union opened at page 1 and I flicked back through all the previous pages (8 of them, unpaginated) and the date is 10 March 1855.
Ennis Union opened at page 1 and the date is 15 September 1855.
Ennistimon Union opened at page 1 and the date is 12 September 1855.
Killadysert Union opened at page 4 and the date is 18 July 1855.
Kilrush Union opened at page 3 and the date is 20 August 1855.
Scarriff Union opened at page 2 and the date is 21 November 1855.
Limerick Union** opened at page 5 and the date is 8 March 1852.
For Gort Union*** I needed to change to County Galway and Gort Union. That opens at page 4 and the date is 31 August 1855.
Tulla Union opened at page 2, but I wasn’t allowed to flick back to the opening page. Any suggestions or help with finding the date for Tulla would be great.

* Notice signed by Richard Griffith: “Primary Valuation. Notice is hereby given, that the whole of the Valuations of Tenements contained in this Book, being liable to Appeal and Amendment, are not to be considered or used as the settled Valuation of the District to which they refer.The Amended of Final Lists, when completed, are issued in manuscript only, and may be inspected at the Union Workhouse, or at the Office of the County Treasurer. Richard Griffith, Commissioner of Valuation”.

** One Volume (book) of the books of Valuations for Limerick Union is devoted to the tenements in County Clare. The opening page states “Baronies of Bunratty Lower and Tulla Lower, County Clare: Primary Valuation of tenements forming that portion of the above named".

*** Gort Union does not have a separate volume for County Clare, probably because there were only a few Co. Clare townlands in Gort Union (Aughinish in the parish of Oughtmama in the Barony of Burren; Bunnahow, Doon, Drumcore and Knockmael, East in the parish of Inchcronan).

I was disappointed that I could not find the date for Tulla Union. But, going on the dates for the other Unions, I think it must be sometime in the latter part of 1855. I really don’t believe that this signing off on the Valuation Volumes by Richard Griffith tells us when the Valuations were actually carried out. The dates are much too close together. I think that deciding the actual timing of each Primary Valuation is going to be very difficult.

I was looking again at those maps so kindly donated to Clare library by Seán Ó Murchadha (they are wonderful and beautiful) and made available to us by the Local Studies Centre: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... _plans.htm. I was looking, in particular, at the map of Tulla signed by Richard Griffith in 1848. The Courthouse in the map is marked “No. 54,” but in Griffith’s Valuation it is Lot no. 44. I think the map was made at the time when the Townland Valuation was in progress and before the Tenement Valuation was begun in Clare in 1850 (1850 is the date given by Frances McGee in The Archives of the Valuation of Ireland 1830-1865).

Sheila

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