Civil Survey 1654-56

The Civil Survey of Ireland - 1654 to 1656

The Civil Survey of Ireland was taken between 1654 and 1656 and its purpose was to measure and value the land in Ireland so that the claims of soldiers for arrears of pay and merchant adventurers could be met after  the Cromwellian and English Civil Wars.

The survey, unlike the subsequent Down Survey (see below), was not based on maps but rather on a detailed description of the boundaries of each parish and barony. The survey also recorded the landowners in the parish.

Permission courtesy of the Irish Manuscripts Commission – Robert C. Simmington, The Civil Survey, A.D. 1654–1656, VOL. IX, County of Wexford (IMC, 1953), pp 18–21.

Points to note:

  1. The spelling of the parishes, townlands and villages in the records are, in many cases, very different to those used today; Ballioughteragh, Balliogullen, Tomecoile and Tobernerine to list but a few.
  2. The main landowners at the time in Toime Parish and Leskin Parish were Lord Mountnorris (Protestant), Henerie Masterson (Protestant), William Plunkett (Protestant) and Thomas Masterson (Papist).
  3. Thomas Masterson, a Papist, held a sizeable amount of land in Toime, Leskin and Balliconowe in 1640. Most Irish Catholic landowners had their lands confiscated and given to British settlers after the Cromwellian conquest (1649 to 1653) with the remaining landowners being transplanted to Connaught. By the time of the Down Survey of landowners in 1670, the land of Papist Thomas Masterson is shown as owned by the Earl of Anglesey.
  4. The type of soil on the landowner’s holding was listed as Arable, Pasture, Woodland, Meadow or Bogg. The survey also listed the crops yielded on each holding. 

Read about the Civil Survey in full on the Irish Manuscripts Commission website.

The Civil Survey of Ireland was historic and remarkable in that it led to first mapping of a nation when the Down Survey of Ireland was conducted between 1656 and 1658.

For further background on this survey and its part in the Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland, you can read further about the Civil Survey on the dedicated Down Survey history section of Trinity College website.