Holding Sizes
-
Cottier or Labourer - less than five acres
-
Small farmer - between five and thirty acres
-
Large farmer - more than thirty acres
Legal Position of Tenants
Contrary to common view, a yearly tenant could not be just thrown off his property by force nor could the rent be raised at the whim of the landlord. The law presumed that a yearly tenancy persisted unchanged from year to year and could only be changed by agreement or litigation
Terms
Occupier: The individual who is responsible for the taxes levied on the tenement
Tenement: Any taxable property, building or land that is held for not less than year to year
County: A major land division created by the English in sixteenth century
Barony: Historically based on original Gaelic family territory by the Anglo-Norman occupiers. There are 273 in number
Civil Parish: Not to be confused with Roman Catholic Parishes, its boundaries closely follow the parishes of the Protestant Church of Ireland
Townland: Area of land such as family farms or groups of farms. It is the smallest of the administrative districts
Cottager: A peasant who occupies a cottage belonging to a farm, sometimes with a plot of land attached. In return the cottager has to work on the farm when required
Immediate Lessor: The person to whom the rent is paid- may be a landowner or middleman
Acreage: One statute acre contained four roods and one rood contained forty perches
Lease: The term of a lease could be for twenty-one years or more often the number of years left in the lives of three named individuals
Money: One pound had twenty shillings and one shilling twelve pence