No census exists in Ireland until 1901 so for family searches we depend on surveys of householders or landholders done before then.

Tithes were taxes to be paid in money by landholders to the Church of Ireland from 1823. Surveys of land were done to determine how much tax each landholder paid. However the lists leave out anyone in the parish who didn’t have land and others, by fair means or foul, managed to avoid the tax. So the list is not a full list of householders. But it does give us a lot of information that we couldn’t otherwise get. Taken with the later Griffith’s Valuation (1857) we can find many of the families who lived in Templeport Parish in the early and middle 19th century.

Some Explanatory Notes

Listed Number
The listed number is the number in the original document before each entry. It may help us to easier identify landholders of the same name living in a townland.

Family Names
The spelling of some family names remains unchanged. Examples of names that have changed slightly are Kiernan (mostly now McKiernan), Sorley (now McSorley), McBryan (now McBrien), Bannans are now Bannons, Donoho is now more commonly Donohoe, Vaitche may be Veitch or perhaps Fitch, the local abbreviation of Fitzpatrick, Geherty may now be Gerty, Keelaugher is now Kellegher, Magauran is mostly now McGovern, Magolrick is now written McGoldrick, Partland is usually McPartland and most Smyths are now Smith.
Every effort has been made to copy the names accurately and no responsibility can be accepted for any errors.

Size of Landholding
Land was measured in Irish acres, roods and square perches. An Irish acre was about 1.6 statute acres. A rood was a quarter of an acre and there were 40 square perches in a rood. The quality of the landholding was also graded in three classes but here only the total acreage is given. The size of the landholding may indicate the relative poverty or prosperity of the family although the quality of the land was of great importance. Some holdings were shared by two or more farmers and this is indicated, using the same listed number for families who shared a holding e.g. Number 429 is a holding shared by four tenants.

Townlands
Prior to 1877 Templeport Parish was much larger in area than it is today. In that year it was divided into three parishes, Templeport, Corlough and Drumreilly (Co. Leitrim). The list below includes only the townlands in the present day parish of Templeport. The spelling used for each townland is as used in the later Griffith’s Valuation. The spelling may differ slightly from the modern version but should still be recognisable.
A map of all the present Templeport Townlands with their alternative names may be found on the Templeport Development Association web site at: www.templeport.ie/pages/townlands.html

© List compiled by Richard Morgan 2008, Coras Point, Cavan and formerly from Bawnboy.