Statistics relating to population and land ownership .
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The 1857 Griffith’s valuation of tenements can also supply us with interesting statistics, ie: size of farms, origins and repatriation of people…
The figures below are rough estimate but does give us a fair idea of the situation in Shrule parish at this time. A more in depth study of the document would be needed to be completely accurate. There were about 356 households in the parish. The parish included 9564 acres.
1% of the population had 28% of the land (that land was not rented out).
There were 4 farms with more than 500 acres, totalling 2648 acres. Their origins were 1 Irish, 1 Scott, 1 Welsh, 1 English. All were owners.
3% of population having 27% of the land (not rented out).
There were 10 farms over 100 acres, totalling 2577 acres. Their origins were 3 Irish, 3 English, 4 Normans. 6 were owners, 4 were wealthy tenants.
Most of the above mentioned owners had purchased their land after 1853, from estates having gone bankrupt.
2% of population having 5% of the land.
There were 8 farms over 50 acres, totalling 483 acres. 1 English, 1 Norman, 6 Irish. All were tenants.
This made 6% of the population having 60% of the land in the parish for their own use. This leaves 3856 acres for 334 households ie: 11.5 acres per household.
It is worth mentioning that a large percentage of those 334 households rented more than 15 acres, leaving others with very little.
Many of the tenants in Shrule town did not rent any land.
The population in all the townlands of Shrule parish was well mixed, there was no settlement of planters… in any part of the parish.