Original 1831 Census from Inistioge to be added to the national Virtual Treasury

Kilkenny Archaeological Society’s recent online lecture by Dr Ciarán Wallace, Deputy Director of Beyond2022, has yielded a very interesting and rare document in Co Kilkenny. 

Beyond2022 is an all-island and international collaborative research project working to create a virtual reconstruction of the Public Record Office of Ireland, which was destroyed, with the Four Courts on the same campus, in the opening engagement of the Civil War on June 30th, 1922.  The ‘Record Treasury’ at the Public Record Office of Ireland stored seven centuries of Irish records dating back to the time of the Normans. National census documents from the 19th century were a particular loss. 

Inistioge resident, Carmel Cummins, was aware of the existence of an copy of the 1831 Census for the area, based on the Tighe estate,  the original of which had been lost in the 1922 fire. In 2021, as a heritage project on behalf of Inistioge Tidy Towns, Carmel had worked with Daphne Coad, the owner of the document, and Declan Macauley, Executive Librarian, to have it digitised by Kilkenny County Library Local Studies, with a view to making it available  online.  

After January’s KAS lecture Carmel enquired as to making it known to the Virtual Treasury and was introduced to Dr Brian Gurrin, census expert. Brian was very excited to hear about the document and visited City Library in Kilkenny last week, to examine and photograph it.

He explained,  “This is a transcription of the 1831 Census of the Tighe Estate in Inistioge. The estate must have put in a request to the Public Records Office to get a copy and this is what was provided to them. It looks to me as if the transcription was made on an original Census book that the enumerators would have received to conduct the 1831 Census. That being the case, this is the only surviving 1831 Census Book. It is a really, really exciting discovery. It’s remarkable that it survived in the condition it has.”

Daphne Coad, owner of this rare document, told him about its provenance , “This document came into my hands though my late father who was a Land Agent in the area from 1900 to about 1960. This was found among papers when he passed away. It has been sitting in a drawer in my house, with only a few outings in the last 50 years. I’m delighted that people who know about it are now able to look at it. It has gone up in my estimation!”

Ann Tierney, President of Kilkenny Archaeological Society, was equally excited about the discovery “How great is it that Daphne and Carmel, and the people of Inistioge have seen the value of this and have preserved it, and made it available. It’s so important because there were others like this throughout the country, and they have been lost.” 

Brian expanded on what it reveals, “This Census has got an enormous amount of information about the families in the area, breaking them down by occupation, household structure, family structure, religion. It’s a remarkable document and the best surviving transcript from the 1831 Census to exist, as far as I know. We’ll do some image processing on the images, look into transcription and if time permits, we’d like to make it available, in time for the launch of the Virtual Treasury on June 30 this year.”

Carmel Cummins noted, “ These centenary years  have encouraged us to  reflect on the events leading to, and surrounding,  the foundation of the State. In Inistioge,  Woodstock House was the base for the Auxiliaries in the southeast during the War of Independence, the house was burned during the Civil War.  It’s a dark history  but that Inistioge is able to offer this phoenix census to Beyond 2022, one of the most positive, exciting and creative projects emerging from the centenary years, is a joy.’      

Read more about Beyond2022, the Virtual Treasury: www.beyond2022.ie