19. Pinpointing the Buggy House

Looking in the Right Place: Tubbridbritain

Knowing that Kyleballynamoe is in Tubbridbritain, not Freshford Parish, allows research in two resources that, together, target the Buggy house in Kyleballynamoe.

There’s No Escaping Taxes: Griffith’s Valuation

In the mid-nineteenth century a property tax survey established a value for every piece of land in Ireland.  Those living on and/or working the land paid the tax, unless the value of the land they occupied was less than £5, in which case the landlord was responsible for the tax.  The valuations were published by county; County Kilkenny’s was the second, in 1849-50. [1]

Searches for “Buggy” in “Kyleballynamoe” in both years show entries for Mary Buggy and Denis Buggy, Dennis and his mother.[2]  (Denis is the spelling from his baptism entry and from the 1860 U.S. census, too.)

Description	1849	1850	1849	1850
No. and Letter of Reference to Map	4ABC&2c	4ABC&2c	5&2d	5&2d
Names of Occupiers	Mary Buggy	Mary Buggy	Denis Buggy	Denis Buggy
Immediate Lessors	Arthur St. George, Esq.	Arthur St. George, Esq.	Arthur St. George, Esq.	Arthur St. George, Esq.
Description of Tenant	House and land	House and land	House and land	House and land
Content of Land, Acres, Roods [4/acre], Perches	15  0  0	15  0  0	1  1  21	1  1  21
Net Annual Val. of Land	7£  0s  0 d	7  0  0	1  0  0	1  0  0
Net Ann. Val. Bldgs.	1  5  0	1  5  0	0  10  0	0  10  0
Total Net Annual Value	8  5  0	8  5  0	1  10  0	1  10  0

Dennis’ mother rented fifteen acres; he rented just over one.  Each had a house, but no farm outbuildings.  Mary would have paid tax on an annual income of 8£ 5s, but Dennis would not have on only 1£ 10s.[3] His landlord would have been liable for that tax.  This liability for taxes of small holdings gave landlords incentive to force folks like Dennis off the land, swelling the ranks of emigrants from Ireland in the nineteenth century.[4]

Ordnance Survey Maps  The entries from Griffith’s Valuation take on additional significance for identifying Dennis Buggy’s home, as they correspond to maps from the Ordnance Survey.   Created from 1833-1846, the Ordnance Survey mapped the entire country of Ireland at six inches to the mile.  The maps have been digitized and are available online.  The map below, published in 1839-40, shows Kyleballynamoe when Dennis Buggy was a boy.[5]

North is at the top.  The townland boundary is red.  Civil parish boundaries are green, showing that Kyleballynamoe lies in the eastern end of Tubbridbritain, adjacent to Freshford civil parish.  The 595 indicates the townland’s size in acres.

Kyleballynamoe in 1839-1840

 © Ordnance Survey Ireland/Government of Ireland
Copyright Permit No. MP 0004913

 Kyleballynamoe Lands Occupied by Mary Buggy and Dennis Buggy 

Griffith’s Valuation describes Mary Buggy’s land as 4ABC and 2c.  It describes Dennis Buggy’s as 5 and 2d.  The codes correspond to an annotated Ordnance Survey map.  The Ask About Ireland website links those annotated maps to the Griffith’s Valuation entries.  Mary Buggy’s 4ABC places the land she rented in the northwest corner of the townland, the darker area [color added] above the letters Y and L.  Dennis’ 5 places his land in an area at higher elevation with much scrub vegetation, the darker area to the center of the townland map.  Mary’s 2c and Denis’ 2d place their houses adjacent to each other.  They lie in the small darker area on the west end of the road through the townland.[6]  That is probably Dennis Buggy’s family home and a house he occupied as a young man before emigrating to the U. S.

How’s That for Pinpointing Dennis Buggy’s Origins!

Next Time: Should be The End

© 2013 Judy Kellar Fox, CG, foxkellarj@comcast.net.

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[1] John Grenham, “What is Griffith’s Valuation?” Ask About Ireland (http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/history-heritage/irish-genealogy/what-is-griffiths-valuati/ : accessed 19 May 2013).

[2] “Griffith’s Valuation,” Ask about Ireland (http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml : accessed 19 May 2013), search for Buggy, County Kilkenny, Tubbridbritain and Tubbridbritain (Part of) Parish.  Valuations for County Kilkenny were published in 1849 and 1850.  Denis Buggy and Mary Buggy appear in Kyleballynamoe townland in both.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Grenham, “What is Griffith’s Valuation?”

[5] Ordnance Survey Ireland (http://www.osi.ie : purchased 14 May 2013), Search: County Kilkenny, Townland Kyleballynamoe.  This map comprises portions of three six-inch maps, Kilkenny 12 and 13 and Tipperary 43, surveyed in 1839-40.

[6] “Griffith’s Valuation,” Ask about Ireland (http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml : accessed 19 May 2013), search for Buggy, County Kilkenny, Tubbridbritain Parish, “Map Views.”