Clarecastle, who's been living in my house 1855-1970?

Click on the image to download the full-size map (19MB)

If you have ever wondered about the history of your house or business, a new transnational project carried out by researchers in Clarecastle and Australia provides fascinating details about property ownership in Clarecastle village.

Primary Valuation of Ireland or Griffith Valuation

Background

The Primary Valuation of Ireland, also known as Griffith’s Valuation, was the first, full-scale valuation of property in Ireland and was carried out 1847-1864. All the land and property in Ireland was surveyed for the purpose of establishing the level of rates (local tax) to be paid by each landholder or leaseholder. The Griffith’s Valuation lists each landholder or householder (occupier) by townland or street with a description of the property (eg. land; house, house and land, or house, out offices/ out buildings and land). It also lists the Immediate Lessor (often the landlord) and the annual valuation.[1]^[2][3] County Clare was valued in 1855.

In 1855, Clarecastle was referred to as the Town of Clare. The town occupied the townlands of Clare Commons and Clarehill and the valuation sheets were listed as:

Clare Commons number 1-4 (all land)
Clare Commons Town of Clare- Main Street numbers 5.1- 5.38 (Main Street included present day Patrick St)
Clare Commons Killadysert Road numbers 1-6 (present day Lissane Road)
Clare Commons Ennis Road lots 1-60 includes part of present day Barrack Street, Maddens and St Michael’s Terraces
Clare Commons Fair Green Lane Lots 1-42 includes the present day Old or Pound Road houses and land now occupied by Church Drive and the old Fair Green
Clarehill Lots 1a-32 includes land, houses and the Quay (lot 31) and the graveyard (lot 19a)
Clarehill Town of Clare Main St numbers 33.1- 33.34 which is the right side of the road facing Limerick.
Clare Hill Quay Road numbers 1- 13.
Creggaune Lane numbers 1-16.

Numbers and references in the first column can be identified on a map prepared by the Ordnance Survey.^[4] (link).

The transcribed Clarecastle Cancelled/Revision books come from eight handwritten ledgers, maintained by the Valuation Office and record changes to individual tenements or lots and the year the Valuation Office was notified. Previous entries were struck out or cancelled and a new ledger or revision book was created. The Cancelled/Revision books for the Town of Clare allow a researcher to follow the history of who occupied a house or land 1855-1970. Notations in the final column provide information such as when a property fell into ruins, a new house was constructed and when a lot such as a field was sub-divided to build new houses. Unlike the Griffith Valuation, the cancelled or revision books for the Republic of Ireland are not available on line. The townlands of Clareabbey (1861-1910) and Creggaunnahilla (1855-1934) are also included.

IF you want to search for someone in particular in the spreadsheets, you can Search by pressing Crtl+f on your keyboard and type the name into the search field that appears , if you are using a Mac press Cmd+f .

The research and transcription for this project was undertaken by Kathy Roughan, a Clarecastle native, who lives in Sydney. For Kathy’s full details, see the pdf under.

[1] (http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/what-is-griffiths-valuati/index.xml ) (1 June 2020).

[2] James Ryan, Irish records: sources for family and local history (Salt Lake City, 1988) p. xxv11.

[3] (https://www.nli.ie/en/griffiths-valuation.aspx) (1 June 2020).

[4] (http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/) (10 May 2019).

For a Griffith Glossary of Terms, see pdf below