With a tenantry weakened by sickness and emigration, their downfall in turn brought about the downfall of the great landed estates. Approximately 3,000 estates were sold off from 1849-1857 totaling five million acres. A registry known as the Encumbered Estates Court was established in Dublin in 1849 to deal with the significant numbers of bankrupt estates during this era. These became known as the "encumbered" estates. The effects of a depressed economy in the nineteenth century brought about by significant rate increases to support the poor law to address the Great Famine, many of the large landed estates were foreclosed by the British Crown. For women, the name of their husband or father may be in parentheses.Įncumbered Estates For men, this may be "Sr." and "Jr." denoting that one is older than the other, not necessarily father and son. In instances where two men or women of the same name are tenants on the estate, some identifier is affixed to their names to distinguish between them. When a husband died, his name is often struck through and the name of the wife, son, or other family member is written into the record. When they were unable to pay their rents, they were listed in arrears and if too much debt accumulated, they were often evicted from these lands and the records name the new tenants who replaced them. Farmers and tenants leased their property from these landholders and paid semi-annual rents. The landed families in Ireland held thousands of acres of estate lands that were the backbone of the Irish economy. The records are deposited in the National Archives, Ireland as part of the Quit Rent Office collection. The records for these estates are generally in good order since the Crown operations were well managed. However, there are some estates that were directly managed by the Crown and its overseers. Types of Estates Crown Estates Īll land in Ireland was held by the Crown according to the feudal doctrine of allodial tenure and would revert (escheat) to the Crown in instances of attainder, felony or lacking a legal heir. Estate records may give names, relationships, ages, maps with property descriptions, residences of emigrants and other details of value to the family historian. During the early twentieth century, many large landed houses and the records of these tenants were destroyed during movement for independence. To search the Irish estate records, the researcher needs to identify the name of the landlord and if the records of that estate still survive. In some instances, the land was held by institutions, incorporated cities, universities, and dioceses. The land agent managed these properties on behalf of the landlord and had broad oversight for the lives of those living on the land. Some were absentee landlords, living elsewhere in the British Isles but holding property in Ireland. The large landed estates were held by the upper social class who leased the property to tenants throughout Ireland. 9 Estate Records by County and LandlordĮstate records are the land records for the common social classes in Ireland.8 Abbreviations for Archives and Repositories.6.6 Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).6.3 The National Archives, London (TNA).
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