If you have Irish ancestry and you only ever learn to use one record, make it Griffith's Valuation. Because the nineteenth-century censuses of Ireland were almost entirely destroyed, this property survey is the great stand-in — a name-by-name account of who held land and buildings across every townland in the country.
Watch: Griffith's Valuation: Ireland's Almost-Lost Census — from our YouTube channel.
What Griffith's Valuation actually is
Officially the Primary Valuation of Ireland, Griffith's Valuation was a survey of property carried out between 1847 and 1864 under Richard Griffith to determine how much tax each occupier should pay toward the support of the poor. It covers the entire island, county by county, barony by barony, parish by parish, and townland by townland.
For each holding it names the occupier, the person they leased from, and a description and value of the land and buildings. That makes it, in effect, a head-of-household directory of Ireland in the years right after the Great Famine — exactly the period when so many families were on the move.
Why it matters so much for Irish genealogy
Ireland's census returns for 1821, 1831, 1841 and 1851 were almost all destroyed, and the 1861–1891 returns were deliberately pulped. That leaves a roughly sixty-year hole in the population record — and Griffith's Valuation is the single best document that fills it.
Because it is organised by townland, it does something a census often can't: it places a surname on a precise piece of ground. Find your family name in a townland, and you've found the parish register to read next, the estate that held the land, and very often the neighbours who emigrated alongside them.
How to search it (for free)
The full Griffith's Valuation is digitised and free to search online. You can look by surname and narrow by county and parish, then view the original valuation page and, on some sites, the matching map showing the exact plot.
Start broad — surname plus county — then tighten to a parish once a cluster appears. A name that shows up in two or three neighbouring townlands is usually one extended family, and that pattern is itself a clue worth following.
Reading it well — the common traps
Spelling was phonetic and inconsistent, so search variants of the surname, not just the version your family settled on. A single occupier can also hold several plots, and a common name in a populous parish may need a parish register or estate record to tell two same-named men apart.
Griffith's also has a quiet second life: the revision (or 'cancelled') books that tracked changes to each holding for decades afterward. Following a holding forward through those revisions can carry a family from the 1850s well into the twentieth century — the kind of thread that turns a single entry into a story.
Video transcript
Ireland lost almost all of its nineteenth-century censuses. This single record is how researchers get that lost century back.
It's called Griffith's Valuation. Between 1847 and 1864, the whole island was surveyed — every county, every parish, every townland — to work out who should pay tax toward the poor.
For each holding it names the occupier, who they leased from, and the value of their land and buildings. In other words: a head-of-household directory of Ireland, in the exact years so many families were emigrating.
Why does that matter so much? Because the censuses for 1821 through 1851 were destroyed, and 1861 through 1891 were pulped. Griffith's fills a sixty-year hole — and because it's organised by townland, it puts a surname on a precise piece of ground.
Search it free online by surname and county. But read it carefully: spelling was phonetic, so search variants, not just the version your family settled on. A name in two or three neighbouring townlands is usually one extended family.
And it has a second life — the revision books that tracked each holding for decades after. Follow those, and a single 1850s entry can carry your family well into the twentieth century.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Griffith's Valuation?
- The Primary Valuation of Ireland, a property survey carried out between 1847 and 1864 that names the occupier of every holding, who they leased from, and its value — in effect a head-of-household directory of post-Famine Ireland.
- Why does Griffith's Valuation matter so much?
- Ireland's 1821–1851 censuses were destroyed and the 1861–1891 returns pulped, leaving a roughly sixty-year gap. Griffith's fills it, and because it is organised by townland it places a surname on a precise piece of ground.
- Is Griffith's Valuation free to search?
- Yes, the full survey is digitised and free online by surname, county and parish. Search spelling variants, and treat a name appearing in two or three neighbouring townlands as likely one extended family.