Extracted with permission from the author’s book Three Centuries of Life in a Tyrone Parish: a History of Donagheady from 1600-1900 (2010) available as a hard copy from BooksIreland or as an ebook from UlsterHeritage
In 1823, in response to growing agitation over tithes, the Composition Act was passed which stipulated that henceforth all tithes due to the Church of Ireland were to be paid in money rather than in kind. This necessitated a complete valuation of all tithable land in Ireland. The results of this valuation are contained in the tithe applotment books which list the names of tithe-payers by townland. Donagheady is one of the very few parishes in Northern Ireland for which there is no tithe applotment book. Why this should have been so is not clear.
Although there is no tithe applotment book for Donagheady, there is, however, a collection of documents in the National Library of Ireland in Dublin relating to the assessment of tithes in the parish (MS 17,990). The first of these documents is dated 9 September 1826 and concerns the nomination by the Rev. Charles Douglas of Earlsgift of Robert Howard Nolan Esq. of Londonderry as his commissioner to fix and ascertain jointly with a commissioner appointed by the select vestry a composition for all the tithe of the parish with the exception of the glebe-lands. The other documents in the collection are certificates of composition for tithes in the parish. Twenty-five of these are from 1833, with a further one from 1834. The table below lists the names of the tithe-payers and the lands upon which the tithe was charged.
TITHE-PAYERS IN DONAGHEADY PARISH IN 1833-4
|
Date |
Land(s) |
Tithe-payer(s) |
|
29 April 1833 |
Ardcame, Bunowen, Fawney, Leitrim |
Anthony Babington, agent to Sir James Robertson Bruce |
|
20 June 1833 |
Altrest |
Robert Stewart |
|
26 June 1833 |
Leat |
William Kane |
|
26 June 1833 |
Altrest |
Andrew Brown |
|
26 June 1833 |
Aughtermoy |
Andrew and Alexander Bairde |
|
26 June 1833 |
Killenny |
John Latta |
|
26 June 1833 |
Glencush, including the subdivisions of Silverhill and Ballanamoney |
James and Robert McCrea |
|
27 June 1833 |
Ardmore |
Archibald McMorris |
|
27 June 1833 |
Altrest |
Alexander Brown |
|
28 June 1833 |
Moyagh, Gloudstown, Stranabrosney, Ballinabuoy |
James McCrea of Foyle St, Londonderry, and Robert McCrea, both merchants |
|
17 July 1833 |
Tirconnelly |
John Walker |
|
18 July 1833 |
Ardmore |
John McMorris |
|
24 July 1833 |
Binnelly |
Robert Craig of Ballymaclanagan |
|
15 August 1833 |
Glencush |
Ephraim McMorris |
|
28 August 1833 |
Gortmonley |
James Hall |
|
20 September 1833 |
Ardmore |
John McMorris |
|
28 September 1833 |
Altrest |
Robert Alexander |
|
17 October 1833 |
Altrest |
Robert Stevenson |
|
17 October 1833 |
Altrest |
John Stevenson |
|
18 October 1833 |
Irish and Scotch Lisnarrow, Claggan, Tirconnelly |
Samuel Jack |
|
18 October 1833 |
Drummond, Barran |
Robert Smyley of Camus |
|
23 October 1833 |
Ardmore |
William Downing |
|
30 October 1833 |
Gortmonley |
James Hall |
|
30 October 1833 |
Not specified |
Earl of Belmore |
|
30 October 1833 |
Gortmonley |
Samuel and James Hall |
|
31 March 1834 |
Upper Aughafad |
James Henderson |
The agreements with the Rev. Douglas
seem to have been made with either the outright owner of the lands or
someone who enjoyed a perpetual lease or a lease for lives renewable forever
of them. The townlands of Altrest, Ardmore and Gortmonley were all part of
the freehold of Dullerton, though no certificate for the townland of
Dullerton is in the collection. No agreement with the Marquess of Abercorn
for his lands in the manor of Dunnalong has survived, though that is not to
say that one was not drawn up.