Parish/Barony/County/Province-level socio-economic statistics for Ireland in 1831.

Table ID:

PAR_1831_I     (1252256)

Contents:

Parish/Barony/County/Province-level socio-economic statistics for Ireland in 1831.

Approx. number of rows:

4,139

Table type:

Raw Data

Documentation Author:

Humphrey Southall

Chronology:

The data are for the single year 1831.

Sources:

1. These data are a very complete transcription of the first and main table within each of the county sections of the Abstract of Answers and Returns under the Population Acts, or just the Abstractof the 1831 Census of Ireland. The only other statistics published from this census are a second table in the Abstract presenting counts of different occupations for each county, and side-by-side population counts for 1821 and 1831 in the Comparative Abstract. The statistical columns in this main table are identical to the main tables in the Abstracts for England and Wales, and for Scotland.
2. This transcription was computerised by Humphrey Southall in September 2022, as a basis for substantial extensions to the Irish part of the AUO. For that reason, it was imprtant that the names of baronies, parishes etc be independently transcribed, using Finereader OCR software, rather than copied from existing listings. The resulting AUO extensions are outlined below.

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Notes:

1. The overall set of tables in the Abstract includes summaries for Ireland as a whole and for each of the four provinces, as well as the main county-by-county listings, which are internally ordered by barony.. Within each barony, the data rows each begin with a geographical name followed by a label, and only some of these labels are 'Parish'. The next most common labels are 'Town' and 'Village', and for these the place names are always indented, indicating they were parts of the previously named parish; but their population data are NOT included in the row for the parish. To make the data usable, these rows have been given the row_type 'Parish Part', the place name has been transferred to the 'parish_part' column, and the name of the most recently mentioned parish copied into the 'parish' column. The only rows not labelled as 'Parish' which have been kept as rows of type 'Parish' are those labelled 'Extra-parochial', 'Grange', 'Territory' and 'Town and Parish'.
2. Information from this table was used to make the following extensions to the AUO:
   • Eight new 'counties' were defined as eight towns or cities had their own separate tabulations: the Cities of Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Limerick and Waterford, and the Towns of Carrickfergus, Drogheda and Galway. To avoid confusion with the counties of the same names, the only name each new unit was given included their status in full; for example, 'COUNTY OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN' and 'COUNTY OF THE TOWN OF CARRICKFERGUS. Each of these towns already existed within the AUO as abarony unit with an appropriate status, so those exiating 'baronies' were made parts of the new 'counties'. So that any mapping would provide complete coverage, both these levels of units were given copies of the overall totals for each town.
   • Eighteen new baronies were defined based on the 1831 listing using whole baronies where the 1851 census used half baronies. The extreme case was County Down, where five new baronies had to be created: just an 'Ardes' barony rather than Ards Lower and Ards Upper which were used in 1851, Iveagh Lower and Iveagh Upper, rather than each being divided into Upper and Lower halves, and so on. In each case, parishes were made parts of these new baronies only if they were named as parts of them in the 1831 listing.
   • Three additional baronies were created which had no such clear succesors: Upper Ossory in Queen's County (now Co. Laois), and Donore and St. Sepulchre in Co. Dublin. The latter two were Liberties on the edge of the city.
   • Numerous additional relationships between parishes and baronies, and variant names of parishes, were added to the AUO. The former were often based on the footnotes to the 1831 table, stating which other baronies divided parishes were also part of. Variant names were based partly on obvious similarity to the names already in the AUO, but also on Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), which frequently lists very dissimilar alternative names for Irish parishes; for this reason, Lewis rather than the 1831 table is often given as the authority for additional names. In a few cases, the 1831 census seems to have named parishes after their main towns or villages, two well-known places so treated being 'Belfast', which appears as a parish name instead of Shankill, and Lisburn, which appears instead of Blaris. At the time of writing, 930 alternative parish names and 410 new IsPartOf relationships between parishes and baronies have been added to the AUO to support this 1831 tabulation.
   • In five cases, the 1831 tabulation lists as two separate parts what were single parishes in 1851. As there is no obvious basis for creating separate boundaries for these areas, both parts were given the same ID as the single later unit, although the names held here were not altered. These were:
     • Clahane North and Clahane South in Corkaguiney, Co. Kerry., both coded as for CLAHANE.
     • Hollywood-boly and Hollywood Lowlands in Talbotstown Lower Barony, Co. Wicklow, both coded as for HOLLYWOOD.
     • Lismore and Macollup in Condons and Clongibbon and in Coshbride and Coshmore Baronies, Co Cork, both coded as for LISMORE AND MOCOLLOP.
     • Inniskeel Upper and Inniskeel Lower in Bannagh and Boylagh Baronies, Co. Donegal, both coded as for INNISKEEL.
     • Ryetulloghobegly East and Ryetulloghobegly West in Kilmacrenan Barony, Co. Donegal, both coded as for RYETULLOGHOBEGLY, which was added as an alternative name for TULLAGHOBEGLY.
   • Conversely, in six cases the 1831 tabulation provides just a single row of data where the 1851 report lists two or more. These were the only cases, at the time of writing, where new parish-level units were defined in the AUO, and in each case 'SucceededBy' relationships with the later units were also added to facilitate borrowing boundary data for the later parishes. These were:
     • 'Arran', Co. Galway, which was listed as a single parish within the barony of the same name in 1831, but replaced by parishes corresponding to the three main Aran islands in 1851: Inisheer, Inishmaan and Inishmore.
     • Ballyeaston, listed in 1831 as within Antrim Upper Barony, Co. Antrim, is described by Lewis as consisting 'of the ancient parishes of Ballycor and Rashee', but it is those two units which appear in later listings.
     • Langfield Parish in Omagh Barony, Co. Tyrone, clearly succeeded by Longfield East and Longfield West in 1851.
     • Mountsea and Dromineer Parish in Ormond Lower Barony, Cp. Tipperary, listed as two separate parishes in 1851.
     • Rathcool and Kilderry in Gowran Barony, Co. Kilkenny, listed as 'Parishes' in 1831, and separated as 'Rathcoole' and 'Kilderry' in 1851.
     • Whitechurch and Owning Parish in Iverk Barony, Co. Kilkenny, similarly listed as two separate parishes in 1851.

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Checking:

1. When checking and correcting the data, individual cells which were correctly transcribed but led to matching errors in both row and column checksums were altered so that the checksums were correct; i.e. these were assumed to be printing errors. However, in a few cases what were presumably errors of arithmetic by the census clerks create inconsistencies implying errors not just in barony but in county and province totals. These were left unaltered.
2. Three single-row checksums have been computed, covering all columns except acreages, the three types of house, male servants under 20, and female servants:
   • That the total number of Families matched the sum of the three groupings of families by occupation.
   • That the total number of Persons matched the sum of total males and total females.
   • That the total number of males aged over twenty matched the sum of the nine occupational categories.
3. All columns have been checked to ensure that the reported totals for baronies match the sum of the parish rows, and similarly that the reported totals for the counties match the sum of their baronies, and again that reported totals for provinces match the total of their counties; EXCEPT for the nine component occupational categories for males over 20 (which are covered by a row checksum).
4. Following corrections, these inconsistencies remained for the Province of Leinster:
   • For Coolock Barony, Co. Dublin, the computed total for uninhabited houses is greater than the reported total by 1.
   • For Rathdown Barony, Co. Dublin, the computed total for 'Males 20 Years of Age' is less than the reported total by 100.
   • Within Salt South Barony, Co. Kildare, for Rathmore Parish the computed total for male 20+ occupations is less than the reported total by 10, and in the following row for Kilteel Village the equivalent computed total is more than the reported total by 10. As the village is within the parish, this does not affect the overall parish counts.
   • Within Cranagh Barony, Co. Kilkenny, for Freshford Parish the computed total for male 20+ occupations is less than the reported total by 2 and, three rows kater, for Three Castles Parish, the equivalent total is more then the reported total by 2.
   • Within Duleek Upper Barony, Co. Meeth, for Duleek Parish the computed total for male 20+ occupations is less then the reported total by 1, and on the next row, for Bellewstown Village. the equivalent total is more than the reported total by 1. As the village is within the parish, this does not affect the overall parish counts.
   • For Kells Upper Barony, Co. Meeth, the computed total for 'Males 20 Years of Age' is less than the reported total for the parishes by 1000. It is also less than the sum of its component occupations by 1,000, so it is presumably wrong. However, it is consistent wuth the overall county totals so has not been changed: presumably, this error means the national total for this category is wrong.
   • For Slane Lower Barony, Co. Meeth, the computed total for 'Labourers employed in Agriculture' is greater than the reported total by 1,000. The row checksum for the Barony totals correspondingly gives a computed total less than the reported total by 1,000, implying there were 1,310 farm labourers in the barony, not 310. However, as with Kells Upper the barony total has not been altered as this would mean also changing county,
   • Within Rathdown Half Barony, Co. Wicklow, for Powerscourt Parish the computed total number of families is less than the reported total by 1, and in the following row for Enniskerry Village the equivalent total is greater than the reported total by 1. The village is within the parish so the parish total is not affected.
   These inconsistencies have been found in the Province of Munster:
   • For Islands Barony, Co. Clare, the computed total for inhabited houses is less than the reported total by 9.
   • Within Clonderalaw Barony, Co. Clare, for Killofin Parish the computed total number of families is less than the reported total by 6, and in the following row for Labasheeda Village the equivalent total is more than the reported total by 6. The village is within the parish so the parish total is not affected.
   • For Bantry Barony, Co. Cork, the computed total for uninhabited houses is less than the reported total by 64.
   • For Barrymore Barony, Co. Cork, the computed total for male servants aged under 20 is less than the reported total by 6.
   • For Carbery West Barony (East Division), Co. Cork, the computed total for houses being built is less than the reported total by 1.
   • For Condons and Clongibbon Barony, Co. Cork, the computed totals for both 'Families chiefly employed in Agriculture' and total Families are more than the reported totals by 10.
   • For Kinnalea Barony, Co. Cork, the computed total for female servants is more than the reported total by 7.
   • Within Orrery and Kilmore Barony, Co. Cork, for Rathgoggin Parish the computed total number males aged 20 and over is more than the reported total by 10, and in the following row for Charleville Town the equivalent total is less than the reported total by 10. The town is within the parish so the parish total is not affected.
   • For County Kerry, the computed sum of the barony counts of uninhabited houses is less than the reported county total by 10.
   • For Kilnemanagh Barony, Co. Tipperary, the computed total for inhabited houses is less than the reported total by 1.
   These inconsistencies have been found in the Province of Ulster:
   • For Dunluce Upper Barony, Co. Antrim, the computed total for inhabited houses is less than the reported total by 1.
   • For Massareene Lower Barony, Co. Antrim, the computed total for uninhabited houses is less than the reported total by 1.
   • For Clonkelly Barony, Co. Fermanagh, the computed total for uninhabited houses is less than the reported total by 89.
   • For Lurg Barony, Co. Fermanagh, the computed total for uninhabited houses is less than the reported total by 4.
   • Within Loughinsholin Barony, Co. Londonderry, for Balnascreen Parish the computed total number of families is more than the reported total by 1, and in the following row for Draperstown Village the equivalent total is less than the reported total by 1. The village is within the parish so the parish total is not affected.
   • For Omagh Barony, Co. Tyrone, the computed total for inhabited houses is less than the reported total by 20.
   These inconsistencies have been found in the Province of Connaught:
   • For Leitrim Barony, Co. Galway, the computed total for inhabited houses is less than the reported total by 8.
   • For Athlone Barony, Co. Roscommon, the reported barony totals for Males, Females and Persons are greater than the sums of the parish rows by 2,000, 2,000 and 4,000 respectively. This has been carefully checked, and the totals for persons are in line with the total number of families for all parishes, while the barony figures are consistent with the county totals, so this seems mostl probably a calculation error in the original.
   NB these checks are computed for baronies and their component parishes only if the barony has been matched to the AUO. However, very extensive column-wise checks were made in Excel as the data were input, covering all baronies.
5. To ensure that text from footnotes, computerised separately, was inserted into the correct row of data, all such strings were checked for whether they contained within them the area name (i.e. the value in parish or parish_part). This also served as an additional check on the accuracy of placename transcriptions. The OCR'd text of the footnotes was carefully manually corrected from the scans, but the tezt was often hard to read. Further consistency checks are clealry possible, precisely because most of the information in the footnotes can a;sp be inferred from the table, but this has not been attempted.
6. See above for notes on how matching to the AUO was improved. At the time of writing, all Counties and Baronies match to the AUO but 95 parishes are unmatched.
7. Matching to towns (units of type IRL_TOWN) was inevitably more complex than for 1851, as the set of towns was created from the 1851 Index of Townlands, and because the 1851 census listing clearly identified towns by the 'T.' suffix. An attempt was made to match as towns all rows with these values of area_label: Borough, Borough and Town, Commons and Town, Suburbs and Town, Town and Village. Only 341 out of the 488 "Village" rows have been matched, but all bar 4 of the others have been matched (the exceptions are Scilly, Gurteenroe and Massytown in Co. Cork and Abbeyside in Co. Waterford, none of which bore any relationship with the existing set of towns). Overall, 818 of the 969 qualifying rows have been matched. Achieving this involved inserting substantial numbers of additional variant names and relationships into the AUO.

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Columns within table:

Column	Type	Contents
row_type	Text string (max.len.=20).	Type of row: Nation (1) Province (4) County (37) Barony (302) Parish (2725) Parish Part (1070)
province	Text string (max.len.=20).	Name of the province containing the county (contains 'IRELAND' for the national total).
county	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the county. Empty only for province and national totals.
barony	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the barony. This will be empty for counties.
parish	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the parish. This will be empty for provinces, counties and baronies. See note above for how this has been copied over for parts of parishes.
parish_part	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the part of the parish. See note above for how these were constructed.
part_of	Text string (max.len.=12).	Contains 'P' if part of the parish was separately listed under a different barony, and otherwise empty. The notes column usually provides more details.
area_label	Text string (max.len.=44).	Label appearing after the area nane. Rows with these labels are treated as being parishes in their own right: Parish (2690) Extra-parochial (16) Grange (7) Parish, Town, and Liberties (2) Parishes (2) Prebendary (5) Town and Parish (2) These we treat as parts of parishes: Borough and Town (10) Borough (11) City (2) Commons and Town (1) Deanery (1) District (1) Hamlet (91) Island (4) Islands (1) Mountain (1) Suburbs and Town (1) Territory (1) Town (458) Village (488)
area_a	Integer number.	"Area: English Statute Acres." Although this column always appears in the table, values appear only for national, province and county totals. A note appearing in the province summaries says: "The Number of Acres given for each County are taken from the best Authority extant; it being quite impracticable to obtain a correct Return from the respective Enumerators as to the Acreable Contents of each Parish."
house_inh	Integer number.	Houses: Inhabited.
fam_total	Integer number.	Houses: Families.
house_bldg	Integer number.	Houses: Building.
house_uninh	Integer number.	Houses: Uninhabited.
fam_agric	Integer number.	Occupations: Families chiefly employed in Agriculture.
fam_manuf	Integer number.	Occupations: Families chiefly employed in Trade, Manufactures, and Handicraft.
fam_other	Integer number.	Occupations: All other Families not comprised in the Two preceding Classes.
tot_male	Integer number.	Persons: Males.
tot_fem	Integer number.	Persons: Females.
tot_pop	Integer number.	Persons: Total of Persons.
males_20_up	Integer number.	Males 20 Years of Age [i.e. the total for the following 8 columns].
farmers_w_lab	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Agriculture: Occupiers employing Labourers.
farmers_nolab	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Agriculture: Occupiers not employing Labourers.
farm_lab	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Agriculture: Labourers employed in Agriculture.
empl_manuf	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Employed in Manufacture or in making Manufacturing Machinery.
empl_retail	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Employed in Retail Trade or in Handicraft as Masters or Workmen.
capitalists	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Capitalists, Bankers, Professional and other educated Men.
labourers	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Labourers employed in Labour not Agricultural.
other_males	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Other Males 20 Years of Age (except Servants).
serv_m_20up	Integer number.	[Adult Male Occupations:] Male Servants: 20 Years of Age.
serv_m_u20	Integer number.	Male Servants: Under 20Years.
serv_fem	Integer number.	Female Servants.
notes	Text string (max.len.=1204).	Footnotes appearing in the original tables. NB these have been included for all counties currently covered. They mostly provide total populations for whole parishes, and indicate where the remainder of a parish or town is listed, but county totals have comments giving more detailed information on workers in manudfacturing, notably giving numbers in branches of textiles. There were no comments on the rows for barony totals.
province_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the province containing the county, as defined in the AUO.
county_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the county, as defined in the AUO.
barony_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the barony, as defined in the AUO.
parish_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the parish, as defined in the AUO.
town_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the towns, as defined in the AUO (units of type IRL_TOWN).
rec_num	Integer number.	Sequence number to keep rows in their original order, added on loading the data into GBHDB.