Someone nice from Ireland sent me this that he found in one of his reference books and I thought I would share it with all my Irish lists: THE TITHE COMPOSITION APPLOTMENT BOOKS Amongst the records and documents transferred to the custody of the Irish Land Commission, from the Commissioners of Church Temporalities, by virtue of the provisions of the Irish Church Act Amendment Act, 1881, were the "Tithe Composition Applotment Books," ranging in date from the year 1823 to 1837, and numbering some two and a half thousand MS. volumes. The origin of these Books descriptive of every parish in Ireland, excepting cities and the larger towns, resides in the Act of Parliament of July, 1823, 2 providing for the substitution of a money payment in respect of Tithes in the place of that formerly rendered in kind. This new method of Tithe payment involved a valuation of the country, parish by parish, under the direction of distinct parochial commissioners, one of whom was elected by the parochial ratepayers and the other nominated by the Diocesan authority. The Tithe Composition Books, for the greater part still in the charge of the Land Commission in Dublin, are the record and expression of that Valuation, and as such uniformly show the denominations of land, titheable, comprising each parish, the landholders, the areas of the farms, their valuations and the proportion of future tithe payable. Exceptions to this uniformity occur only in so far as added information may be furnished either as to the landholders of an earlier date, or as to the agricultural employment of the land and the qualities of the soil. Some books carry annotations specifying the legal interests of the tenantry, or indicating where emigration had taken place; even antiquities were occasionally the subject of observation. Relevant papers, including maps, frequently accompany each parish survey. They explain the procedure which led to the fixing of the amount of the composition based on the average price obtainable in the parish for wheat and oats during the seven years preceding the 1st November, 1821. The liability of pasture land, formerly exempt, to Tithe explains the protests to be found occasionally with these papers. With some few exceptions, where copies take the place of the originals, each Book is certified and signed by the elected and nominated commissioners. They are, therefore, the authentic records of these Tithe applotments which were, in fact, at a later date declared "valid and effectual" by Act of Parliament. It is the purpose of this Note to direct attention to the exceptional importance of this extensive repertory, and of its value to students and investigators in the spheres of history, economics and genealogy. Begun, as already indicated, in the third decade of the 19th century and prior to the introduction of the Poor Law, the Ordnance Survey or Government Valuation of the country, the Tithe Applotment Valuation furnishes a detailed account of the occupiers of the land with the extent and value of their individual farms. It was the first complete register of the people in relation to the working and tenancy of the land, and its worth is heightened by the fact that it is a duly certified recording of the occupation and usage of the land for the two decades immediately preceding the upheaval wrought by the Famine of '47. Indeed between the years 1823 and 1830 "out of the 2,450 parishes of which Ireland was composed, 1,353 parishes had compounded" under the Act of 1823.* Before 1837 the commutation proceedings, with the aid of a compulsory Act (1832) were completed for the remaining parishes. Each parochial Applotment Book presents in tabular form the particulars of the Tithe apportionment under the captions of Tenants, Townlands, Area, Valuation and Tithe Payable. Within these classifications there is uniformity throughout the entire documentation. The numerous Books examined reveal, however, a much wider range in the specification of Quarterlands, Ploughlands and their sub-denominations, the name's of head-landlords and owners in fee, the rents per acre, paid by the tenants, the quality of the land of each farm?set out in so many as six classifications with corresponding valuations, the areas of farms in arable, pasture and meadow, and, of particular interest, returns for each man's sowing of wheat, barley, oats, potatoes and so on. This last invaluable recording of the individual farmer's employment of the land is available in a representative way for more than one county?and to the extent, for such particulars, of six whole Tipperary parishes. Lands held in joint and undivided tenancies or "Rundale" are distinguished and particulars afforded of the standard of value by which the applotment was effected. As to the principle of the Valuation itself, it is apprehended that where the rents were not followed, it was made by qualities. Over certain areas the apportionment was on the basis of "a true and just applotment ,of the Views of the Parish." Any appraisal of this vast mass of historical material must take into consideration its present value as an isolated and exclusive source of knowledge for the facts set down either of a human, topographical or statistical nature. Having regard to the loss in recent years of the Census of 1821, the Tithe Valuation is of exceptional importance as preserving the memory of the people of the soil. With the exception of the possible existence of old Rate books or rentals of estates, yet to be discovered, the Tithe Valuation remains the only source available in this connection over the period specified. Catholic Emancipation had yet to be enacted when the Tithe Valuation had become law and, therefore, Parish Registers are scarce, if at all available ; with regard to those of the Protestant Church?deposited in the Public Record Office they, with the Census, perished in 1922. Where, on the Consolidation of Farms, or for other reasons, there was a wholesale removal of tenantry to America, or elsewhere, the Tithe Valuation, in the absence of Emigration lists or other particulars, is the only source enabling descendants to establish connection with the land of their transported ancestry. The Government Valuation popularly known as Griffith's Valuation was of later date, circa 1850-1856. As a record of topographical nomenclature, and parochial contents, it must first be said, with regard to the Tithe Valuation, that in 1825 Government empowered1 the delimitation of the boundaries of baronies, parishes, and townlands for the purpose of a General Survey of Ireland. The first Ordnance Survey map appeared in 1833 and later the well-known accompanying Memoir of the Parish of Templemore. The latter points out in connection with the boundaries of townlands laid down on the maps that it often happened that they did not coincide with those of. earlier denominations and that new subdivisions would sometimes occur. Evidence given before the Occupation of Land (Ireland) Commission, 1844, explained that the Government had found Quarterlands too large ; that they had been subdivided and given new names. To these circumstances must be added the consequences of the later Boundary Act of 1836-37* which resulted in the transfer of townlands not only from one parish to another but from one county to another! The topographical and geographical distortion thus effected in the interests of making each barony and county one continuous tract of land must ever present problems of territorial locations which can only be solved by reference to some pre-existing record. Here the Tithe Valuation emerges as a great national survey preserving the facts as to what sub-divisions comprised each parish in Quarterlands, Ploughlands, Sub-denominations, or Townlands and in recording the Place-Names of such sub-divisions as they were known to the people on the land. As to the rendering of the latter, there is evidence that the Tithe Books were, over certain areas, consulted in the preparation of material for the Ordnance Survey, and that to this extent they have already received scholarly appraisal as an authoritative source. For the agricultural distribution of the land, its employment in tillage and pasture over the period 1823-37, it has only to be said that statistics, not elsewhere to be found, are available here. All these considerations unite in exalting the Tithe Valuation as one of the most precious possessions of the nation and in urging serious consideration for its preservation. In the course of its examination, over certain areas, it was observed that the ink of many books was rapidly fading and that illegibility would soon be a widespread reality. This is to be explained by the poorness of the material some times used in the recording and compiling of the Tithe Books ranging in format from the humble copybook to stoutly bound volumes. Attention has already been called to this regrettable development and it is understood some effort has been made to deal with particularly precarious examples. By R. C. Simington. -- Pat Connors, Sacramento, CA http://www.connorsgenealogy.com