Hello All,
Are there any farmers out there? This is a description of the area where my
Great gt Grandfather, Thomas McCay, farmed in the Townland Valuation . He
shared about 39 Cunningham acres with four other farmers in the first area and
had about 2 acres in the second . The land is obviously pretty poor and I
wondered if anyone could suggest how this land would have been used at that
time. From my reading I guess he grew some oats and potatoes and used the
pasture for some kind of livestock but I would be interested in any comments
from people with more knowledge than me.
The Townland Valuation 1828-40
This was carried out by the Ordnance Survey and provided a very detailed
description of the land in each townland. On June 20th 1833 it was the turn of
Rabstown to undergo this process. The townland was divided into 5 areas, noted
on an accompanying map, and each described and valued. The area in which Thomas
shared land with a group of farmers and in which Archibald's farm was situated
was probably area 3 and the following description is given:
'3 A recd (reclaimed) mountain arable
and heathy pasture, shallow,
white gravely sand subsoil'
The value or rate for the land in this area is given as 3s per statute acre,
later increased to 3/6. This was by far the least valuable land in Rabstown,
other areas being rated at between 9/6 and 14s in the initial valuation.
Thomas' land in Glentown was obviously much better. It was in area 7 and
surveyed on June 24th. The description is as follows:
'7 A good free deep arable 1/3
deep 2/3 a moory arable of moderate depth and part exposed
Also
reclaimed bog wet and heathy pasture’
This was valued initially at 11/6 per statute acre, later being raised to 12/6,
while the reclaimed bog and heathy pasture was valued at 3/6.
Many Thanks
Marion Shephard
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
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