Survey of houses in Cork City
Tenants and possessors
NA

The Down Survey

This survey, carried out by Sir William Petty, is important in that the land was measured by trained surveyors and the results were reproduced in map form.

It provides a mapped record of confiscated lands after the Cromwellian war. The divisions used in the survey were the barony, parish and townland, and it is useful in determining land ownership for the period.

The survey was practically destroyed by fire in 1711 and the remainder in the fire of 1922. However, copies survive under the following classifications:

Copies of parish maps made in 1787 by the Hon. R. Rochfort, Surveyor-General, which are now included in the Reeves Collection in the National Library along with a series of barony maps, entitled “Hibernia Regnum”, compiled from the Down Survey parish maps and finally, the Quit Rent Office maps and tracings.

Civil Survey/Limited Parishes:

Reasons for the Survey:

The 1654 Civil Survey was undertaken by the Cromwellian government in Ireland for two reasons;

1. to secure information on the location and type of confiscated lands,
2. to survey these lands in order to honour agreements entered into with English adventurers who had financed the Cromwellian war in Ireland, and with soldiers who had fought in it with the guarantee of payment in land in lieu of money.
The survey was carried out under the aegis of the Courts of Survey, who in turn delegated the implementation of it to local juries who had extensive knowledge of their own localities.

Information Collected:

The survey, initiated in 1654, begins with a detailed account of landowners and their estates, and a valuation of the land, while also recording additional information such as the type of soil and the physical features of a locality.

In total twenty-seven counties were surveyed, including all those in the province of Leinster. Although copies were destroyed in the fire at the Surveyor General’s office in 1711 and the original set was lost in the fire of 1922, parts of it are still extant as copies had been deposited in the Quit Rent office.

Wills

What They Contain:

Wills are an important source of genealogical information, containing, in addition to the name of the testators, those of witnesses and executors.

They usually also give names of spouse and children and any other party standing to gain from the provisions of the will.

Where to find them:

Wills can be examined at the National Archives of Ireland where there is an index based on name to all wills prior to 1857.

From 1858 onwards there is an alphabetically arranged yearly calendar to wills. It includes name, address, occupation and place and date of death of the deceased.

These documents are particularly useful when researching the middle and upper classes.

Many original wills were lost in the fire of 1922 but abstracts and copies exist. Sir William Betham extracted genealogical details from almost 37,000 prerogative will up to 1800.

The Commissioners of Inland Revenue have also compiled abstracts of both prerogative and diocesan wills. These are printed in 22 volumes, covering the period 1828–1839, and are available at the National Archives.

Finally, the Irish Manuscripts Commission has published two volumes of will abstracts, taken from originals in the Registry of Deeds and edited by P. Beryl Eustace.

Subsidy Rolls
Limited Baronies
NA

Cork City Free men
NA

Able Bodied Male Protestants
Limited parishes
Anglo Irish Miscellany

Freemen + Freeholders of Cork City
NL

Freemen of Cork City
NL

St Mary’s Shandon Cork
Householders
JCHAS

Griffiths Valuation
Householders
NA + most libraries

Griffiths Valuation, a property assessment of all properties in Ireland, took place during the years 1848 to 1864. They began in the south of Ireland and ended in Ulster. Griffiths lists the lessors (not the same as the owner) and lessees of all property in the country. It is the primary 19th century Irish reference in which the poor are likely to be found. FHC Film # 0844991. Griffith’s was actually taken in County Cork 1851-1853 at the end of the Famine.