Purpose and Scope of Survey
The purpose of this survey is to identify estate material
of potential relevance for general genealogical research in the period
before the first publication of Griffith’s Valuation,
as it is before that date that the lack of genealogical sources is most
keenly felt. It is hoped that the material thus identified will be made
more accessible by providing:
Scope of the survey
Before using this material, you should be very clear about what it is
and isn’t. It is a finding aid for catalogued material of general
genealogical significance in the records of the former landed estates
now in the custody of the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) and the
National Library of Ireland (NLI). It includes records in manuscript
form, as well as microfilm or published formats or records whose originals
may be elsewhere. Its limitations are as follows:
it does not include Irish estate records in manuscript
not held by NAI of NLI;
it does not include Irish estate records starting after
the publication date of Griffith’s Valuation for the
relevant county;
it does not include Irish estate records in manuscript
held by NAI of NLI which were not catalogued and publicly available
at the time this survey was carried out;
it does not include material such as pedigrees or family
letters relating to individual landed families which may be included
with the records of their estates;
it does not include a complete account of large manuscript
collection such as the Lismore Papers of the Inchiquin Collection which
may contain many records covering the same general area.
To understand these limitations, it may be useful to know how the project
was carried out. Research was divided into three stages.
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Material of likely relevance was identified from
the NAI and NLI catalogues, primarily the Hayes Catalogue of Manuscript
Sources for the Study of Irish Civilization and its supplements.
The identification of material of likely relevance was necessarily
a somewhat subjective process, given that the catalogue descriptions
can be terse, and reliance was placed on the experience of those carrying
out the research, including members of the Association of Professional
Genealogists in Ireland.
-
The individual manuscripts identified as possibly
relevant were the examined in detail. If they proved to contain material
of genealogical interest (such as rentals, or surveys containing names
of tenants), then:
(a) all the places-names covered were extracted,
and
(b) an attempt was made to specify the nature of
the material in order to indicate whether all tenants were included
or only major tenants/middlemen. Once again the judgement of the individual
researcher was the arbiter.
-
The place-names extracted from the records were
identified by civil parish and a report produced showing civil parishes
covered and listing place-names by manuscript. All manuscripts contained
place-names that remained unidentifiable in the major sources. The
proportion could be as high as 30% in some places.
