18/10/2026
For many Irish families researching their roots, one single survey from the 1850s often becomes the earliest solid trace they can find.
Griffith's Valuation, officially a property tax assessment carried out across Ireland between 1847 and 1864, ended up becoming one of the single most important genealogical records in existence, largely because it was compiled in the years immediately following the Great Famine when so many earlier parish and census records were lost, destroyed, or never properly kept at all. The survey recorded the name of every landholder and occupier across the country, along with their townland, the size of their holding, and its valuation, creating a detailed snapshot of exactly who lived where at a moment when huge numbers of Irish families were being displaced or emigrating entirely. For many Irish American and Irish diaspora families today, a name on a Griffith's Valuation page is the earliest documented proof they can find connecting their family to a specific townland in Ireland.
It is a dry, bureaucratic tax record on the surface, but for countless families it has become the single thread connecting them back to exactly where their story began.
Have you found your family's name in Griffith's Valuation, and if so, which townland did it lead you to? 👇
