Tithe Records - NLI

shanew

I didn't see a specific thread on checking Tithe fims in the NLI so thought a post a few notes :

There's an index book to the Tithes in the Genealogy room - dont have the exact title but it has 'GS' on the back and it located on the right of the room about 2/3 of the way along. This contains a list of all civil parishes covered in alphabetical order. Example of an entry :

Taney 1825 9/70 35

1825 is the year of that section, 9/70 is the Tithe reference and 35 is the film number you need. The films, along with the RC parish films, are in metal cabinets on the left in the room across from the Genealogy room. Look for the Tithe films to the right of the rack. When you take the film you need, replace the blank slot with one of the 'in use' film boxes.

The room has a number of microfilm machines - a good idea to 'claim' one (leave folders, notepad, pencils etc) as you arrive, in case it gets busy while you are finding your film references etc.

There are also PCs with scanners and printing facilities, but these should not be used for searching, just for printing out entries after you have located them. Although it does mean you have to unspool your film on the viewer, reload on the scanner and find the details again, so it's a good idea to have some 'land marks' noted to help.

There are a number of parishes on each film and the TAB references (e.g. 9/70) are in order on the films and are included at the bottom of most pages to help navigate. There are also useful 'marker' pages consisting of a few horizontal white bars between each set of entries (e.g. between 30/10 Powerscourt, 32/11 Kilmacanogue and again before 31/12 Bray etc) which you can spot even in fast forward mode, and count your way forwards to the parish you need.

Pages printed are A4 and cost 10c each. There's a card machine in the film room - cards have €2 credit. They printer is in the Genealogy room. (The same PCs can be used to print entries from RC films).

There's also a useful combined index of Griffth's and the Tithes by Surname. There's a set of books by county, and the sections are listed by civil parish. Each surname that appears in either Griffth's and/or the Tithe's for the parish is listed. (no townland or first names are listed). e.g.

Dillon G4 T
Walsh G4

this indicates that there were one or more Dillon listed for the parish in question in both Griffith's and the Tithes, but Walsh only appears in Griffith's entries.

couple of complications I found that might be worth noting...

some townlands appear in different parishes to what you would expect based on Griffith's, the 1st Ed. OSI maps or 1851 townland index. I dont know how common this is but if this does occur then check neighbouring parishes - these will usualy be on the same film.

Some films are spooled backwards - i.e. the first page you see reads 'end'. Makes for complicated mirror-image navigation.

and a minor point - some surnames have been 'tidied up' for the combined Griffith's/Tithes surnames index - e.g. some of my Wicklow ancestors often appear as Roach(e) - and appear like this in the Tithe records, but are listed as Roche in this index.


Shane

RGM

What information is is in the tithe records, just names?

shanew

similar details to Griffth's - i.e. occupier, area of land (which can be handy for cross-reference with Griffith's data), valuation etc, but without the Lessor. There are often comments about the type or quality of the land - e.g. 'good pasture', 'fine arable', 'some bog' etc...

The layout varies a little - some parishes have more columns relating to the valuation over the left and right leaves, others just one set of entries per side - some extracts below.


S.

RGM

Ok, thanks. I've only seen transcriptions.

pinkypinky

Also to add, these are on Ancestry but I think they're poorly described and it's not made clear that there's very little information to go on. People could see what's online and think there's more available, when there isn't.

shanew

quite a few areas seem to be missing from the Transcriptions on Ancestry - search interface could be better also. Plus they suggest that it covers '...all of Ireland..' and doesn't mention that just agricultural land is covered, and that there are numerous exceptions.

There are also some obvious errors. My gtgtgt-Grandfather is included on Ancestry in Ballywattrim, Co. Kildare - when it should be Ballywaltrim, Co. Wicklow (not even close to Kildare).



Shane

RGM

pinkypinky wrote: »

Also to add, these are on Ancestry but I think they're poorly described and it's not made clear that there's very little information to go on. People could see what's online and think there's more available, when there isn't.

The Ancestry database is a bit odd to search as well, it doesn't seem to recognize locations other than counties. And you can't browse by location.

shanew

For a decent search of Tithes online I think you would need to have a search that allowed you to specifically select a county, and optionally the Barony and civil parish - a bit like the interface for Griffith's on AskAboutIreland.



S.

RGM

Ok, so a workaround for the Ancestry database is to put the parish or townland in as a keyword rather than part of the location. The problem there being that half the townlands are spelled "wrong."

Elizabetha

shanew wrote: »

I didn't see a specific thread on checking Tithe fims in the NLI so thought a post a few notes :

There's an index book to the Tithes in the Genealogy room - dont have the exact title but it has 'GS' on the back and it located on the right of the room about 2/3 of the way along. This contains a list of all civil parishes covered in alphabetical order. Example of an entry :

Taney 1825 9/70 35

1825 is the year of that section, 9/70 is the Tithe reference and 35 is the film number you need. The films, along with the RC parish films, are in metal cabinets on the left in the room across from the Genealogy room. Look for the Tithe films to the right of the rack. When you take the film you need, replace the blank slot with one of the 'in use' film boxes.

The room has a number of microfilm machines - a good idea to 'claim' one (leave folders, notepad, pencils etc) as you arrive, in case it gets busy while you are finding your film references etc.

There are also PCs with scanners and printing facilities, but these should not be used for searching, just for printing out entries after you have located them. Although it does mean you have to unspool your film on the viewer, reload on the scanner and find the details again, so it's a good idea to have some 'land marks' noted to help.

There are a number of parishes on each film and the TAB references (e.g. 9/70) are in order on the films and are included at the bottom of most pages to help navigate. There are also useful 'marker' pages consisting of a few horizontal white bars between each set of entries (e.g. between 30/10 Powerscourt, 32/11 Kilmacanogue and again before 31/12 Bray etc) which you can spot even in fast forward mode, and count your way forwards to the parish you need.

Pages printed are A4 and cost 10c each. There's a card machine in the film room - cards have €2 credit. They printer is in the Genealogy room. (The same PCs can be used to print entries from RC films).

There's also a useful combined index of Griffth's and the Tithes by Surname. There's a set of books by county, and the sections are listed by civil parish. Each surname that appears in either Griffth's and/or the Tithe's for the parish is listed. (no townland or first names are listed). e.g.

Dillon G4 T
Walsh G4

this indicates that there were one or more Dillon listed for the parish in question in both Griffith's and the Tithes, but Walsh only appears in Griffith's entries.

couple of complications I found that might be worth noting...

some townlands appear in different parishes to what you would expect based on Griffith's, the 1st Ed. OSI maps or 1851 townland index. I dont know how common this is but if this does occur then check neighbouring parishes - these will usualy be on the same film.

Some films are spooled backwards - i.e. the first page you see reads 'end'. Makes for complicated mirror-image navigation.

and a minor point - some surnames have been 'tidied up' for the combined Griffith's/Tithes surnames index - e.g. some of my Wicklow ancestors often appear as Roach(e) - and appear like this in the Tithe records, but are listed as Roche in this index.


Shane

Thanks Shane, all very usefull, Im planning to go there in a couple of weeks. Im really looking forward to it but at the same time worried about not having a clue what to do!