For further information on researching the famine in your local area or to make an appointment to view the archives please contact: Sources for researching and Museum Telephone: +44 (0) 28 3031 3182 the Great Irish Famine Email: [email protected]

Down County Museum Telephone: +44 (0) 28 4461 5218 Email: [email protected]

Newry and Mourne Museum At Newry and and County Museum hold a number of records that are Mourne Museum important to anyone studying the famine in the district. This & Down County publication intends to provide an overview of some of the sources Compiled by Shane McGivern and Victoria Millar Museum that can be consulted. NEWRY & MOURNE MUSEUM DOWN COUNTY MUSEUM

Landed Estate Records Corry Charity Book Ballee Relief Fund, 18 May 1847 Farmer’s account book, c1831-1853 Estate papers are an excellent source of information The Trevor Corry Charity was established in 1823 The Ballee Relief Fund was established in January 1847 This book belonged to James Osborne from for those trying to locate ancestors in the nineteenth for people who had found themselves in reduced to provide relief to the labouring poor and destitute Ballymacreely, and contains details such as century and are a useful pre and post famine census circumstances. It arose from a bequest of £3,000 left persons in the Parish of Ballee, near . produce bought and sold, crops sown and cows calved. substitute. Rental volumes relating to the Newry by Sir Trevor Corry following his death in 1780. The The document lists the names of those who portion of the Kilmorey Estate can be consulted in accounts book dating from 1823–1872 can be found in contributed to the fund, the majority of whom were the Collection. the Reside Collection and contains names, addresses, clergymen, landlords and local farmers. About 600 Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings, 1880s occupations and the reasons why a person was entitled There are a total of 15 rentals covering the years 1844 individuals benefitted from the fund until it closed to receive money from the charity. The significance A number of the newspaper cuttings in the scrapbook to 1851. The rentals offer a glimpse into the hardships in August 1847; having been deemed unnecessary of this is that it gives representation of a social class refer to famine conditions in Kilcoo, near . that tenants often experienced and provide details of the following the onset of Harvest. who otherwise may not be found in the written record. conditions during this period in Irish history. It provides a window into life in nineteenth-century The famine era rentals are dotted with references that Newry for those fell on hard times and who may The Downshire Protestant, 1855-1862 are indicative of the social conditions experienced otherwise have been forgotten. Pilson Diaries, 1830s-1850s Divided into three volumes, Down County Museum during this time. There are numerous references to Split into three volumes (1835-1837, 1852-1854, holds copies of The Downshire Protestant newspaper tenants who emigrated to England, America and 1854-1855), the diaries of Mr Aynsworth Pilson of dating from July 1855 to September 1862. Australia. Added to this are cases where former tenants Griffith’s Valuation books Downpatrick contain a wealth of information about the could no longer pay their arrears and were noted as town in the years preceding and following the Great The Griffith Valuation of Ireland was carried out having become paupers. In one case a calf was seized as Famine. a form of payment. between 1848 and 1864. The valuation for County Griffith’s Valuation books Down was carried out between 1861 and 1864 and Down County Museum holds volumes covering the A small number of estate maps relating to the Newry provides details such as , occupiers, lessors, Unions of , Downpatrick, , , area can be consulted. Detailed maps covering description of tenement, area size and the valuation Documents relating to the Gilchrist Family Newry and . Ballyholland Lower in 1813, the Lower Commons in of the property. This is a very useful for research of of , , 1840s 1834, Finnards in 1841, Altnaveigh in 1850, and Derry landholding in the post famine period. Volumes Documents include indentures for the purchase and Beg in 1851 can be used study pre and post famine covering the Unions of Newry and Kilkeel can be found transfer of lands, letters regarding the sale of lands and land holding in some of the rural parts of Newry. There within the Collection. are also a number of small famine era maps covering rent slips. portions of townlands around Kilkeel. Miscellaneous items Encumbered Estates and Landed Estates Harshaw Diaries 1830s-1860s Court Records The diaries, written by James Harshaw of Donaghmore, near Newry, are an account of rural life before, during In the years following the Great Famine, many large and after the famine and show its social and economic landed estates were burdened with debt as they were impact on the local population. The original diaries unable to collect rents due to emigration and the general are held in PRONI however digital copies are available state of the country. In 1849 the Encumbered Estates to view in the Reading Room at Newry and Mourne Court was established to sell off parts of, or entire, Museum. estates on behalf of landlords who could no longer Poor Law Rate Book Mullartown Division 1854 afford to keep their land. Prior to the sale of the estate a Mullartown was one of ten Electoral Divisions in Kilkeel detailed rental or catalogue of the estate was produced. Poor Law Union. This volume covers the townlands The Collection includes many of these rentals from the of Ballykeel, Ballaghanery, Ballaghanery Upper, locality and cover both urban and rural areas around Glasdrumman, Glasdrumman Upper, Mullartown, Newry, and () and Moneydorragh More, Village, Moneydorragh also Omeath, Carlingford and Ballymascanlon (County More Upper and Moneydorragh Beg. The book includes Encumbered Estates Rental relating to Louth). The rentals vary in detail but generally give the details such as the description of the property, occupier occupier’s name, the size of the holding the type of and the poor law rate paid. the sale of lands belonging to Richard lease and (if it applies) the lives on the lease. A number Coulter of Carnmeen, 1853 Levallyreagh Rental 1846-1851 of the rentals also contain maps which show where This rental volume covers part of the of This Encumbered Estates rental provides details each property was located and are invaluable for any Levallyreagh in the parish of Kilbroney. Tenant names, of the sale of lands at Carnmeen, near Newry. researcher studying the area in the immediate rental paid and arrears owed are among the details The document includes a list of tenants, map aftermath of the famine. recorded. Also in the Collection is a hand drawn estate and illustrations of two houses and a bleach mill map covering part of Levallyreagh which dates from (also available to consult in Newry and Mourne 1846. This details the locations of the various properties Museum). leased by tenants mentioned in the rental volume.