Griffiths Survey Maps and Plans

[hallmark]

I’d be careful about assuming that Lord Dufferin was an “Absentee landlord”,

Indeed, he may have been "Touring Europe" for a few months too....

[hallmark]

  I'm still not sure what the 60 occupants on the Griffiths Survey Map means, unless Drumhirk's population increased in size before it diminished again. 

I just explained that Griifiths was HEADS OF HOUSES!!!   not occupants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[aghadowey]

Details of Drumhirk townland in 1841, 1851, 1861 here- google easily finds such details-

http://www.dippam.ac.uk/eppi/documents/14545/page/376622

[Sinann]

You may find this explanation of Griffiths Valuation helpful.
http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com/GRIFFITH/Griffiths.PDF

[Carolynxyz]

Thanks for the caution, Elwyn, and perhaps I used the term incorrectly.  By absentee I meant that he did not live in the parish, in this case, Kilmood, not that he had no interest in his tenants.  I understood that his mansion was in the Bangor area, and I would expected him to have deriven income from farms and land all over the region.  I do note, however, that there are letters written mid-century between Lord Dufferin and two men writing on behalf of one of his tenants in Maymore (haven't checked where that is) and he digs his heels in over the issue of compensating the farmer for improvements when the lease is surrendered.  Apparently a payment at the end of a lease was the custom in northern Ireland (according to the two men in correspondence with Dufferin) but he did not want to abide by this.  The arguments on both sides make interesting reading!

[Carolynxyz]

Aghadowey, that is fantastic information and a wonderful resource!  Extremely helpful, so too is the article, Sinann

Hallmark, the digitized image of Griffiths clearly shows the heading to be "occupiers" whilst the Griffiths Survey Maps & Plans refer to "60 occupants."  Clearly the occupiers are heads of household;  otherwise the rest of the family, lodgers, live-in servants etc would be included.  I know that this is not a census and it was for tax purposes.   Ian Maxwell's Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors states: " The original purpose was, and remains, the assessment of every building and every piece of land and estimating its financial value."  Maxwell also points out that the occupier was the householder or leaseholder.  I was confused because the digitized image shows 25 pieces of property represented by 25 names in the occupiers column, and I couldn't reconcile this 25 occupiers with 60 occupants.  That's why I asked the question about the meaning of the term "occupant."  Aghadowey's chart shows that in 1861 Drumhirk had a total population of 170 and 29 inhabited houses.  Those houses may have contained more than one household, but the tax was levied on the property, not on each household within it, so 60 occupants still does not make sense to me.  Sorry...

[aghadowey]

This could easily be the problem-

A transcription at Find My Past for Drumhirk, Kilmood Griffith's Survey Maps & Plans says that the occupant count is 60.  Yet the Valuation shows only 27 occupiers.  Does anyone know if this means that 60 is the total population count for Drumhirk?

Always best to check the original.

[Carolynxyz]

Yes, I think you may be right that the 60 is a transcription error.  We all see horrendous, and misleading, transcriptions, and they should never be used in place of the real deal.  Unfortunately FindMyPast doesn't have the Northern Ireland maps and surveys, only transcriptions, but I will certainly be asking an archivist at PRONI if it would be possible to check.  Not that it's as important now, as you directed me to the population count for Drumhirk from 1841-1861, which along with the 1831 data from Ordnance Survey Memoirs, will give me a good sense of the community's demographic changes.  I've accessed this sort of information for England through the HistPop.org website and did check it for Kilmood in 1841, but it gave statistics for the parish as a whole, not its townlands.  I should have checked further down the list instead of assuming the same would apply to other dates!
Thanks again

[hallmark]

OK!