Brassington & Gale Valuation of Powerscourt 1853: Tenant Names (Archive Month #18)

In 1853, during the minority of the 7th Viscount Powerscourt, the firm Brassington and Gale (Bachelor’s Walk) were requested to carry out a valuation of all property on the Estate, to assist the Guardians of the estate in deciding on rents that should be charged for land. They produced a ledger of incredible detail, which is now in the National Library of Ireland (MS 2740) that lists all of the townlands in the Wicklow estate (Enniskerry and Castlemacadam), the tenants in each of the holdings in these townlands, their area and their value.

Below, I have reproduced some of this—namely the townlands, their total acreage and value, and the tenants names given in each. There is a return for each holding, so in many cases a tenant’s name will appear more than once. For each holding, the original lists several sub-sections—e.g. arable fields, rocky land, boggy land and their component values and areas—this isn’t reproduced. Therefore the list below should be read as all of the holdings within a townland, bearing in mind that their value was comprised of several sub-sections. Also, some holdings have joint tenants—I would imagine that these are usually related in some way.

Of course, there were many more tenants than are listed here—I suppose they sub-let land from the listed tenants. I am really just listing these names as a genealogical resource, so hope it is of some interest. There does seem to have been a map to accompany this report, but I haven’t seen it yet (I’m not even sure if it still exists). I have occasionally recorded details of note, usually any significant buildings that were noted or anything that was occupied directly by the estate (!In hand”). Unfortunately, details in the village were scant – buildings were only listed as dwellings, sub-divided by whether they had slated or thatched roof. Businesses or types of buildings, with some rare exceptions, were not indicated.

[table “8” not found /]