This page contains extracts from Griffiths Valuation of
Ireland Index for civil parishes in Down.
Irelands Valuation office conducted it's first survey of property
ownership in Ireland from 1863 to 1864. This survey became known as "Griffiths
Valuation" after Richard Griffith who was the director of the office at that
time. The survey was used to determine the amount of tax each person should pay
towards the support of the poor within their poor law union. This involved
determining the value of all privately held lands and buildings in rural as well
as urban areas to figure the rate at which each unit of property could be rented
year after year. The resulting survey was arranged by barony and civil parish
with an index to the townlands appearing in each volume. Griffith's Valuation can
be used as an excellent census substitute for the years after the Great Famine as
censuses prior to 1901 were destroyed.