Landlords of Clogher (Tyrone)

Griffiths Valuation  for 1860 lists George Brackenridge as the landlord of all of Ballyscally save for some plantation, which was owned by the Church Commissioners. Brackenridge appears to have lived at Ashfield Park, Co. Tyrone. There are some of his papers in PRONI. (Details on their e-catalogue).  I am not sure whether they contain lists of tenants.  For earlier years you could try the Registry of Deeds. Search under townland name. There’s a copy of the Deeds in PRONI and they are also on-line on Familysearch.

Most of Lismore also had George Brackenridge as landlord. A couple of properties had different landlords ie Robert Hornidge and Ambrose Geldstones. Nurchossy Irish had Samuel Ramsay as landlord save for 1 property where Anne Irwin was landlord. Again your best bet is searching the Registry of Deeds to see if you can find any leases, mortgages or other documents for the years you are interested in.

In all these lands the ultimate landowner is likely to have been the Commissionery of Church Temporalities (ie the Church of Ireland). They will then have sublet to folk like Brackenridge who then sublet again.  The Church Commissioners records won’t have details of subtenants which is what I think you are looking for. If the information isn't in the Brackenridge papers, then it may not exist. Always worth checking the National Archives in Dublin in case any Brackenridge papers are lodged there too.

Thank you, Elwyn,

Griffith's Valuations was taken in Clogher in 1851, so I am not sure if the landlord was the same person as in 1831, the year of the Housholders List, though it was probably the same family surname.

I have checked PRONI but you are correct, I should check NAI,  but it seems that most landlords were not concerned about recording their tennants prior to the "Famine".

You have supplied me with information of which I was not aware, and I thank you.

Tim

Glad to help. Griffiths for Ballyscally, Lismore & Nurchossy was compiled in 1860. (The year is recorded on the details button). I assume you know you can check subsequent years by using the Valuation Revision books on the PRONI site. Covering the years between the tithes and Griffiths can often be difficult due to a lack of records.

I have checked the Revision books, which were helpful to me for the townland of Nurchossy Irish. They cover a span of years and when someone dies or is evicted, his name is simply crossed out and the new tenant's name written in above it. They are consistant, though in the sense that Patrick McCarron and Edward McCarron death records show that they died during the span that their name was crossed out. 

But, as you say, the information between TAB and Griffith's is spare to nonexistant. And it was during that time that my folk died or left Ireland. Also, I believe that Griffith's was published in 1860 but the survey was carried out between 1848 and 1864. For Nurchossy it was taken in 1851.

I plan on contacting NAI today.

Thanks again, Elwyn

Tim

Tim,

My general understanding of Griffiths has been that the survey started in Cork in 1847 and finished in Antrim in 1864. The surveyors moved gradually north. And that is reflected by the years on the Griffiths site which advance the further north you are in the country.  I don’t think anyone was doing any surveying in Tyrone in the 1850s. Other articles I have read on Griffiths say that the information was compiled within 12 months of the year shown on the website.  This is what John Grenham says about dating each of the Valuations:

https://www.johngrenham.com/blog/2017/02/06/how-to-date-griffiths-valuation-precisely/ 

Anyway good luck with your research.

Excellent information Elwyn. Thank you so much.

The information I had always gone be was:

 failte romhat: http://www.failteromhat.com/tyrone.htm

And Irish Genealogy Hub: http://www.irishgenealogyhub.com/tyrone/griffiths-valuation/parish-of-clogher.php

It actually makes no difference to me when it was compled because my folks were gone before 1850. That is why I am trying to lacate estate records from 1825 to 1850.

I am having a difficult time finding records that early. I doubt that secondary landlords had detailed records that early.

Thanks again,

Tim