The Tithe Applotment was a yearly tax levied on every person in Ireland, regardless of religion, who rented or owned land. The monies raised were used for the support of the Church of Ireland (Protestant Church) in rural areas.

Some property was worth more than other property and was taxed accordingly. Since no Catholics were allowed to own land in Ireland at the time, all the listings connected to Catholics represent rental properties.

The Tithe Applotment only listed heads of households. Heads of household could be male or female. They could be single or married. Married sons and daughters frequently lived with their parents. The system of inheritance in Ireland, at the time, made it possible for a household to consist of a widowed mother, her son or daughter, his/her family, and unmarried siblings, with the head of household listed as the widowed mother.

The tithe does not differentiate between the townlands and the town. The listings for Carrownalecka, for example, do not indicate if the "address" is in the town or in the townland. The Griffiths, on the other hand, divides Carrownalecka into several sections that include "addresses" both in the townland and in the town.

It is often very hard or impossible to connect the tithe applotment lists to other records. However, I have looked for each family name in the places where they were later known to have lived.

Ballinrobe

A calculations of the value of the land and the amount of tax to be paid was done in Ballinrobe parish in 1827 in the forth year of the reign of King George the Fourth by the Reverent Cecil Crampton and David Rutledge. The total amount of the tithe assessed was four hundred and eighty pounds sterling payable to the Reverend Thomas John Burgh, the rector of the Church of Ireland of Ballinrobe Parish.

Schrule

The Tithe Applotment was done in Shrule parish in 1825.

The Griffith Valuation was a tax assessment mandated by the Tenement Act of 1842. A uniform "valuation" based on the productive capacity of the land and potential rental of buildings was made between 1846 and 1864 for all the taxable property in Ireland to determine the amount of tax each tenant or landlord should pay to support the poor and destitute within his "Poor Law Union". Richard Griffith was the Commissioner of Valuation when the first assessments were made and the records are known as the Griffith's Valuation.

The records are arranged by County, Barony, Poor Law Union, Civil Parish, and Townland. In the case of Ballinrobe, the County was Mayo, the Barony was Killmaine, the Poor Law Union was Ballinrobe, and the civil parish was Ballinrobe. The civil parish of Ballinrobe was further subdivided into a number of townlands. The townlands consisted of rural areas surrounding the town. The town proper was divided into several sections, which corresponded to the townland lying directly adjacent.

The first Griffith Valuation was done in Ballinrobe and Shruel in 1857. Like the tithe applotment, it listed only heads of household.

The Griffith's Valuation was updated every few years through the 1930s.

The Griffiths Valuation listed each property according to a reference point on a map, and included:

• The name of the "occupier"
• The name of the "immediate lessors"
• A "description of the tenement"
• The numbers of acres
• The amount of tax assessed

Tenement refers to any kind of permanent property and not to the type of apartment building that became known as a tenement today. In-town properties were not listed with acreage, since they were usually small lots. Frequent entries under "Tenement" were: "land", "house", "office", "yard", and "garden". All of these are self explanatory except "office". An office apparently could refer to anything from as large as a barn to as small as a pigsty. I would assume that most of the "offices" in town were not offices in the sense that we think of them as, but were out buildings for tools and animals.

It is very clear that some people were listed with more than one "house". I don't know exactly what of make of this fact.

There are eight Griffith ledgers covering Ballinrobe parish between 1857 and 1893. There are no official dates on the ledgers, but notations in the margins make the ledgers dateable (more or less) to the following years 1857, 1859, 1861, 1863, 1866, 1867, 1872-1880, and 1893.. The dates are estimates and there are some obvious contradictions in the ledgers.

There are eight Griffith ledgers covering Shrule parish between 1857 and 1910. There are no official dates on the ledgers, but notations in the margins make the ledgers dateable to the following years, 1857, 1857, 1861, 1862, 1865, 1868-1880, and 1880-1910.

The Tithe

There were two listings for Feeney in the Ballinrobe in the Tithe Applotment in 1827:

1. A. Feeney in Carnaroya
2. James Feeney in Friars Quarters

The 1857 Griffith listed six Feeney families in the area:

1. James Feeney in Knockakillew
2. Catherine Feeney in Knockakillew
3. John Feeney in Carnaroya
4. Patrick Feeney in Carnaroya
5. Andrew Feeney in Carnaroya
6. John Feeney with two properties in Friarsquarters West

I do not know if any of these Feeneys were related to Fanny.

The Tithe Applotment

As mentioned, Walsh was one of the most common names in County Mayo. Consequently, sorting out the Walshes in the tithe and Griffith is more difficult than the other families in the area. Due to the large numbers of Walshes in the records, I am only giving specific information on the Walshes in the areas that are known to have been connected to John Walsh and his family.

The tithe allotment lists eight Walshes in the the town of Ballinrobe in general and two in Cahirnalecka (Carrownalecka) specifically.

Carrownalecka was the part of town where John Walsh is known to have lived and it is more likely he was connected to someone in this part of town than in another area.

There were no listings for Walsh in the tithe in Knockanotish, another "address" connected with John Walsh and his family. In fact there were only two listings in Knockanotish in 1827 (both for Kenny). I believe that the area was "developed" as a residential neighborhood at a later date.

The Walsh "families" listed in the town Ballinrobe were:

1. David Walsh was listed with two properties in "Cahirnalecka" (Carrownalecka):
   • A 3 acres parcel of land at a taxable rate of 3.0
   • A 1¸ acres parcel of land at a taxable rate of .5.
2. Miles Walsh was listed with two properties in "Cahirnalecka" (Carrownalecka):
   • A 2 acres parcel of land at a taxable rate of 2.3
   • A 5 acres parcel of land at a taxable rate of .3

Notes:

• Since the better the land the higher the taxes, it can be assumed that the three acres rented by David (taxed at 3) and the 1¸ acres rented by Miles (taxed at 2.3) were somehow better than the land they were renting which was taxed at .5 and .3.
• Since the right to rent was often an inherited right, it is possible that either David or Miles was related to John Walsh who was living in Carrownalecka from 1865 to 1867.
• Neither Myles not David were names of any of the children of John Walsh
3. Walsh & Co. in Cornaroya
4. John Walsh in Cornaroya

5. Thomas Walsh in Friars Quarters
6. David Walsh in Friars Quarters
7. Miles Walsh in Friars Quarters

8. Richard Walsh in Rathkelly Village.

Neighborhoods (then and now) often include extented families. Other people listed in Carrownalecka in the 1827 tithe applotment were:

Jns (James) Martin, Martin Carr, Michael Larner, Jns Clark, James Calleran, Jns Roach, Nicholas Mannion, John Larner, John Murphy, Andrew Hamilton, Thomas Biggin, Mrs Miller, "Late Farragher now C Kinney Esq., Hugh Reilly, Matthew Murphy, Peter Smith, Dennis Murtagh, Jns Sheridan, Tom Size, Jns Lyons, Patt Feerick, Jns Sheridan, and the widow Dewell.

Sponsors for the children of John Walsh included the names Lardner (also spelt Larner) and Murphy.

The Griffith Valuation

The first Griffith in Ballinrobe was done twenty-four years after the tithe survey and six years after the first year of the famine. The famine years are traditional said to be from 1845 to 1848, but there were still repercussions into the 1850s. Brian Smith in Tracing Your Mayo Ancestors says,

" The County was significantly affected by the Great Famine of 1845-1847, which resulted in the death or emigration of 30% of the population by 1851".

Interestingly, the number of Walshes in Ballinrobe Parish at least doubled between 1827 and 1857.

It is difficult to determine exactly how many Walshes were living in Ballinrobe Parish in 1827. There were twenty-one listings for the name Walsh in the tithe survey. Since several of the given names were the same, this most likely represents less than the twenty-one who were listed. Based on the number of each given name listed there were at least eleven families of Walshes in Ballinrobe Parish in 1827. It is impossible to determine how many people were in the "household". It could have been one person living by themselves or a father with ten or twelve children.

When the Griffith's valuation were taken twenty-four years later (despite the devastating results of the famine) there were 82 listings for the name Walsh. Again, the 82 listings do not necessarily represent 82 different people. Breaking the Walshes down in several different ways shows:

First Names

The Walshes as listed in the Griffiths Valuation by first name groupings are: John, thirteen times, Nicholas, eleven times, Patrick, ten times, Thomas, nine times, William, nine times, Michael, five times, Catherine, three times, James, three times, Martin, three times, Miles, one time, Myles, two times, Bridget, two times, Margaret, two times, Cicely, two times, and the following one time each; Anthony, David, Ellen, Honoria, Michael, Jr., Ulick, Walter, "William, the son of James", and "William, the son of Patrick". Based on the number of each given name listed there were at least twenty two families of Walshes in Ballinrobe in 1857. This is counting Miles and Myles as the same name with different spellings.

With common names like John, Patrick, Thomas, William and Michael it quite possible that there was more than one "head of household" with these names. On the other hand, I am fairly sure there was only one Nicholas Walsh.

All of the Walshes were listed as tenants, except, Nicholas Walsh, who is listed as both a tenant and a landlord. Since Miles and David are less common given names it is tempting to assume that they are the same Miles and David who were listed in 1827. However, Miles is listed with a house in Rathcareen and a house in Cornaroya. This makes it possible that there are two Mileses. Since neither is in the same place as 1827 it is impossible to know if either one of them is "himself". There is only one David Walsh but again he is not in the same place in 1827 and 1857.

• Houses

  According to the number of "houses" listed in 1857, it is possible that there were, seven Johns, seven Patricks, four Thomases, four William, four Michaels, two Catherines, three Jameses, two Matins, two Mileses, one Bridget, two Cicelys, and one each of Anthony, David, Ellen, Honoria, Margaret, Michael Jr., Ulick, Walter, "William, the son of James", and "William, the son of Patrick". While Nicholas Walsh was listed as the "Immediate Lessor" of eleven houses, there is no indication of where Nicholas actually lived.

  Based on the number of "houses" the total number of Walsh families in Ballinrobe could have been as high as forty-eight. Meaning that the population of Walshes in Ballinrobe did not decrease by the estimated famine rate of 30%, but increased more than four times.

  There are several glitches with this theory:

  1. The records for Nicholas Walsh indicate that he was one person who rented houses he subleted or used for some other purpose. This was actually a common practice among the English who obtained the rights to rent land, working as a sort of agent for the absentee landlords. (See Captain Boycott and Courtney Kenny.). If Nicholas Walsh was doing this, other Walshes could have been doing the same.
  2. It is also possible that "house" like "office" had a broader meaning than is obvious.
  3. The valuation only took into consideration people who owned or rented land, it did not count the employees of landholders who may have lived with the landlord. (Which of course could mean that there were even more Walshes.)
  4. Ballinrobe was a magnet for people from the villages of Cross, Cong, Neale, Party and others in the surrounding area. Some of the Walshes in Ballinrobe in 1857 could have been born twenty or more miles away a may not have been the children of the Walshes who were listed in the Tithe Applotment in 1827. Not only were their numbers larger in 1857 than in 1827, but the Walshes were also listed in many more townlands.

John Walsh was born no later than 1840. Consequently, one of the people listed in the tithe applotment could have been his father or grandfather.

The 1857 and 1859 Griffith show May Glynn at number 11 Creagh Road in Carrownalecka. In the "1861" ledger, Mary Glynn was replaced by John Walsh. John Walsh was listed at number 11 Creagh Road in the "1863" ledger. In the "1866" ledger he was replaced by John Buchingham(?).

This is in keeping with the civil records which show that John Walsh moved from Carrownalecka to Knockanothish between 1867 and 1869.

There is no listing for John Walsh in Knockanotish in the the 1867 to 1892 ledgers. There were 17 listings (all of them on High Street) in Knockanotish. None of the names listed in the "1867" to "1892" ledgers were connected with John Walsh, except for John Lardner who was crossed out in the "1867" ledger.

Several of the houses were listed under Stanhope Kenny, including a "caretakers" house. Since John Walsh was known to have been living in Knockonotish during this period, I assume he was in one of the houses listed under Stanhope Kenny. This may indicate that he was employed by Stanhope Kenny. John Walsh was listed in 1869 as a farmer, in 1871 and 1873 as a gardener, in 1875 as a steward, in 1877 as a gardner, and in 1882 as a steward. The occupations of gardner and steward required an estate on which to work.

In the "1893" ledger # 11 was first listed as "vacant". This was crossed out and John Walsh was entered. John Walsh was crossed out and Consable Michael Kenny was entered. Looking back at #11, the 1868 to 1892 ledger listed William Braken (crossed out), Stanhope Kenny and Lodgers. In the 1862 to 1868 ledger Michael commons had been listed at #11.