The Primary Valuation of Ireland, known as Griffith’s Valuation, was a survey of all Ireland undertaken to calculate the value of all land and buildings in the country. It began in 1848 and was completed in 1864.[1] It is a very important genealogical record due to the destruction of almost all the census returns for the 19th century. It lists owners and tenants of land and is estimated to cover about 70-80% of the adult population who owned land.[2] The land measurements used were the county, the Poor Law Union, civil parish and townland.[3] Baronies and civil parishes are usually not used as administrative areas in Ireland today.
The Buggy name appears 217 times in the survey. Counties Carlow (2), Dublin (1), Kilkenny (161), Laois (46), Tipperary (1) and Waterford (6) are represented. However, I estimate the actual number of people is less, probably closer to 150. This is due to the same person leasing different plots of lands, the same person being both an owner and a tenant and possible duplication errors in the database I transcribed from.[4]
All the entries are available for download in a pdf file via the link below.
You will need Adobe reader to view this file. Click here to download Adobe reader for free.
All Griffith’s Valuation Entries for Buggy 1847-1864
[1] http://www.nli.ie/en/griffiths-valuation.aspx
[2] Hayes, Richard J. and Keane, E. (year unknown) Index of Surnames of Householders. Unpublished guide National Library of Ireland.
[3] http://www.nli.ie/en/griffiths-valuation.aspx
[4] Askaboutireland.ie. The Primary Valuation of Ireland or Griffith’s Valuation (database online). Dublin Ireland: OMS Services Ltd, Eneclann Ltd and the National Library of Ireland, 2003.
Buggy Name History 