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The
scarcity of country-wide census returns as enhanced the importance of the
so-called 'census substitutes' held by the Public Record Office for Northern
Ireland. These include a series of
returns instigated by central government for the purposes of taxation or the
redistribution of land and a series of local censuses carried out at the bequest
of landlords or by members of the
local clergy. (i)
Seventeenth Century Muster
Rolls 1630 These
contain lists of the principal landlords in Ulster, and the names of the men
they could assemble in an emergency. They
are arranged by county, and district within the county MIC 15A/52 - 53 & 73.
See also: T458/7
Muster Roll for Co. Tyrone 1630 T563
Muster Roll for Co. Down 1642-1643 T3726
Muster Rolls for Donaghadee, Co Down, Dunluce, Ballycastle and Ballintoy
Co. Antrim
1642 MIC339
Muster Roll for Ulster 1630. Various
extracts can be found in private collections see Subject Index under the heading
Armed Services: Muster Rolls. It is
also worth checking local estates records. Books
of Survey and Distribution Compiled around 1680 as a result of the wars of the mid-seventeenth century when the English government needed reliable information on land ownership throughout Ireland to carry out its policy of land ownership throughout Ireland to carry out its policy of land distribution. The
Books of Survey and Distribution are laid out on a barony and parish basis and
includes a record of land ownership before the Cromwellian and Williamite
confiscations as well as the names of the individuals to whom the land was
distributed. They were used to
impose the acreable rent called the Quit Rent, which was payable yearly on lands
granted under the terms of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation.
A fire in 1711 in the Surveyors and Auditor General Office, destroyed the
office copies of the Books of Survey and Distribution, but fortunately duplicate
copies have survived. A set can be found in the Annesley Papers
D1854/1/1-23. Civil
Survey of Ireland Sir
William Petty's Civil Survey of Ireland, compiled between 1655 and 1667,
contains lists of the principal landlords of each townland as well as their
predecessor before the Cromwellian confiscations of 1641.
It contains a great deal of topographical information arranged by county,
barony, parish and townland. Unfortunately
very little of this survey survives, although Co. Londonderry and Co. Tyrone are
available T371. Census
of Ireland c 1659 This
census of Ireland was compiled by Sir William
Petty and contains only the names of those with title to land (tituladoes) and
the total number of English and Irish resident in each townland.
The census is divided up as follows; Parishes/Townlands/Numbers
of people/Tituladoes Names/English & Scots/Irish. At
the end of the barony tables the principal
Irish families were listed and enumerated.
Five counties, Cavan, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone and Wicklow are not covered.
See the following: Co.
ARMAGH 1659
Census MIC 15A/72 Co.
ANTRIM 1659
Census MIC 15A/72 Co.
FERMANAGH 1659
Census T808/15064 Co.
LONDONDERRY 1659
Census MIC 15A/82 Hearth
Money Rolls 1666 Arranged
by county and parish, they list the name of the householder and the number of
hearths on which he was taxed at the rate of 2 shillings on every hearth or
fireplace in the decade from 1660-1670. The
tax was collected over areas known as 'Walks' and based on the town. The
'Lisburn Walk', for example, covered a large area of the south of Co. Antrim and
NOT merely Lisburn town. The
largest dwelling on which hearthmoney was paid was that of the Earl of Donegall
at Carriackfergus (40 hearths), closely followed by that of Sir George Rawdon at
Lisburn (39 hearths), both in County Antrim.
The largest house in County Londonderry was apparently that of Tristram
Beresford at Coleraine (9 hearths) and in Tyrone that of Henry Mervyn at
Trillick (6 hearths). The
original Heath Money Rolls were destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922.
Fortunately the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland had preserved copies
of the Rolls and these were lent to the Office for copying in the mid-1920s.
See the following: Co.
ANTRIM 1669
Hearth Money Roll T307 Co.
ARMAGH 1664
Hearth Money Roll T604 Co.
FERMANAGH 1665-1666
Hearth Money Roll T808/15066 Co.
LONDONDERRY 1663
Hearth Money Roll T307 Co.
TYRONE 1664
Hearth Money Roll T283/D/2 1666
Hearth Money Roll T307
Subsidy
Rolls 1662-66 The
Subsidy Rolls list the nobility, clergy and laity who paid a grant in aid to the
King ie. those who possessed sufficient property to be liable to payment of the
subsidies which then formed the chief manner of direct taxation. The lists in this case, therefore, are of the better class
citizens. They include the name and
the parish of the person and sometimes the amount paid and the status of the
person. Generally speaking, the
impression which these Rolls leave on the mind is that Ulster at that time,
particularly the two counties of Londonderry and Tyrone, was a remote, poor and
scantily-populated country, with few towns of any size.
See the following: Co.
ANTRIM 1666
Subsidy Roll T808/14889 Co.
DOWN 1663
Subsidy Roll T307 Co.
FERMANAGH 1662
Subsidy Roll T808/15068 (Enniskillen
town only) Co.
TYRONE 1664
Subsidy Roll T283/D/1 1689 Poll
Tax Returns 1660 The Poll Tax Rolls list the people who paid a tax levied on every person over 12 years old. They give detailed facts about individuals quite unique in surviving seventeenth century records. See
the following: Co.
ARMAGH 1660
Poll Tax Returns MIC 15A/76 Co.
DOWN 1660
Poll Tax Returns MIC 15A/76 Co.
FERMANAGH 1660
Poll Tax Returns MIC 15A/80 Co.
LONDONDERRY 1669
Poll Tax Returns MIC 15A/82 (ii)
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century 1708 In
1708 James Maguire made a survey of the town of Downpatrick, Co Down. He
discribed each premise by name, giving its size, its principal tenant and the
half yearly rent due. A manuscript
copy of this survey, made by the Rev. David Stewart in 1927, is available
D1759/2A/8. 1740 In
1740 a list of Protestant householders was compiled in parts of Cos.Antrim,
Armagh, Down, Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone.
It is arranged by county, barony and parish and gives the names only.
A typescript copy of the 1740 return of Protestant householders is
available on the Search Room shelves. Copies
are also available T808/15258. 1766 In
March and April 1766, Church of Ireland rectors were instructed by the
government to compile complete returns of all householders in their respective
parishes, showing their religion, as between Church of Ireland (Episcopalian),
Roman Catholic (termed 'Papists' in the returns) and Presbyterians (or
Dissenters), and giving an acount of any Roman Catholic clergy active in their
area. Some of the more diligent
rectors listed every townland and every household, but many drew up only
numerical totals of the population. All
of the original returns were destroyed in the Four Courts in 1922, but extensive
transcripts survive and are available on the Search Room shelves.
Copies are also available T808/15264-15267. 1770 In 1770 a census was carried out for the town of Armagh giving individual names and occupations, size of family and religion arranged street by street 1796 As
part of a government initiative to encourage the linen trade, free
spinning-wheels or looms were granted to individuals planting a certain area of
land with flax. The lists of those entitled to the awards, covering almost
60,000 individuals, were published in 1796.
A typescript copy is available on the Search Room shelves T3419. *A
surname index for the spinning wheel premium entitlement is also available on
microfiche MF7. 1
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