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In order to find out about the clachan and the people
who lived in it in the past we used, in particular, the
following sources.
Oral sources
For information on the more recent past we relied
heavily on residents of existing clachans or people who
knew about particular clachans . We would like to extend
many thanks to all those people too numerous to mention by
individual name. Without their assistance much of the
information relating to families would not have been
appeared.
Griffith's Printed Valuation of circa 1860
The General Valuation of Rateable Property
in Ireland, or the Griffith's Valuation as it is popularly
known, is a complete record of all the occupiers of houses
and land in Ireland around the middle of the nineteenth
century. The valuers used notebooks to record their information.
These original notebooks (for Ulster) are kept in the
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The results of the survey were finally
produced in printed form.
The valuers also used maps to record the locations of
the houses and holdings. These
maps were based on the County Series of the Six Inch
Ordnance Survey.
When you are looking at the valuation list for a
particular townland on this web site, you will need to
know what the various columns in the valuation list
mean. Click here for
an explanation of what each column means.
Griffith's Revision Books
From 1864 onwards the Griffith's Valuation was revised
periodically. Valuers
again went round townlands and noted any changes that had
taken place. They used field books where they stroked out
the name of an occupier who had gone and wrote in the name
of the new occupier. This means that it is possible to
trace persons throughout the later nineteenth and early
twentieth century. However, it should be noted that people
could go unrecorded, particularly if they were only in a
house for a few months. Cottiers, i.e. people who rented
their house from farmers and did not hold any land, often
moved house frequently - so could often be missed. Also
you should note that the date recorded against a change is
the date when the valuer noted it, not necessarily the
exact date when the event took place. In other words, it
could have happened a number of years before the valuer
recorded it.
If you want to find out more about the Griffith's
Valuation and the revisions go to the PRONI site 
1901 Census Enumerators' Returns
Although, throughout Ireland, a census was taken every
ten years from 1821, almost all of the enumerators'
returns, which contain the details relating to each family
and household, have been destroyed, either by government
order during the First World War or were lost in the
destruction of the Public Record Office in Dublin, in
1922. 1901 is the earliest and most complete census of
Ireland that survives.
The 1901 Census Enumerators' Returns contain, for each
townland, details of all persons present in the house on
the night of 31st March 1901. This means that servants,
lodgers, boarders and even visiting friends are included
but those members of the family away from home on the day
were not included with the other family members.
Note also that the returns contain information on
dwelling houses and outbuildings.
For more information on the 1901 Census Enumerators'
Return go to the PRONI site
Church and Civil Records
When trying to find out about a particular family
within a clachan in the nineteenth century we used
information on marriages, births/baptisms and
deaths/burials. This information can, of course, be very
patchy.
From 1864 onwards marriages, births and deaths were
recorded by the state - compulsory civil registration. Of
course prior to that the only registration of these events
as marriages, baptisms and burials was carried out by the
church. Since the task of doing this was left to
individuals and, since it was not compulsory before 1864,
recording of the information was often irregular and in many cases not done at
all.
Gravestone inscriptions in the Glens are a
particularly useful source for
deaths. Some gravestones even record the deaths of
brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who had
emigrated.
RIC Register of Householders
Another source particular to a part of the Glens was
the register of householders (1881) kept by the Royal
Irish Constabulary for the sub-districts of Knocknacarry
and Cushendall. It contains information on not only the
head of the household but also members of the family.
Their age is given but we suspect that in many cases it is
very inaccurate. However, helpful comments such as 'gone to America' can be
included.
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