Tithe map

Last updated August 22, 2024

The term tithe map is usually applied to a map of an English or Welsh parish or township, prepared following the Tithe Commutation Act 1836. This act allowed tithes to be paid in cash rather than goods. The map and its accompanying schedule gave the names of all owners and occupiers of land in the parish. Individual tithe owners sometimes prepared maps for their own use to show who owned what land. These maps are sometimes also called tithe maps, although such maps are not common before 1836.^[1]

Tithes

The payment in kind of one tenth of local produce to the church had been established in Anglo-Saxon England before the Norman Conquest. It originally supported the local priest, but in some cases the right to receive the tithe was acquired by an organisation such as a monastery or college, who paid a curate. With the dissolution of the monasteries, the right to receive tithes was acquired by a number of private landlords. In some instances, a tithe barn was built to hold the tithes. Tithes themselves were controversial, particularly among nonconformists who resented supporting the established church;^[2] and payment in kind was sometimes not convenient for either the farmer or the tithe owner.

Conversion to cash payments

Over time, in some parishes, the tithe owner came to an agreement with the tithe payers to receive cash instead of farm produce. This could be for a fixed period of time or indefinitely.^[3] During the period of parliamentary enclosure, the various inclosure acts abolished tithes in many places in return for an allocation of land to the tithe owner. However, in many parishes, tithes continued to be paid in kind.

Tithe Commutation Act 1836

The Tithe Commutation Act 1836 and an amending act in 1837 established a procedure whereby tithes could be converted to money payments. This required the drawing of an accurate map (the accuracy of which was certified by commissioners) showing all the land in the parish. The series of maps resulting from this legislation provides unprecedented coverage, detail and accuracy.^[4]

The initial intention was to produce maps of the highest possible quality, but the expense (incurred by the landowners) led to the provision that the accuracy of the maps would be testified by the seal of the commissioners, and only maps of suitable quality would be so sealed. In the end, about one sixth of the maps had seals. A map was produced for each "tithe district", that is, a region in which tithes were paid as a unit. These could be distinct from parishes or townships. Areas in which tithes had already been commuted were not mapped, so that coverage varied widely from county to county. The maps indicated parcels of land and buildings, assigning each a number.

Each map was accompanied by a schedule listing each map item by number. This showed the owners, occupiers and a description of the land in the parish including individual fields - sometimes with field names. (The description might be short: house and barn, arable, etc.)^[5] A preamble gave the name of the tithe owner, the circumstances under which tithes were owed, and whether the apportionment was subject to an agreement between the parties, or was being imposed by the Crown. Most of the surveying and mapping was carried out by 1841, and the work was largely completed by 1851. In some cases amendments had to be filed when properties were divided or other circumstances intervened. The work was also complicated by numerous inconsistencies in the ways tithes were assessed. For example, timber might or might not include standing trees, branches, acorns, mast, and even charcoal. Variations as to the circumstances of tithe-paying were also considerable.

Three copies of these maps and schedules were prepared: one copy was held centrally by the Tithe Commissioners, one locally in the parish church and one in the diocesan registry.^[6]

Maps

The maps and schedules held by the commissioners passed to the Inland Revenue (the predecessors of HMRC) and are now held in The National Archives at Kew ^[7] (classes IR29 and IR30). In a partnership with The National Archives^[8] and a family history data website, TheGenealogist, it is possible to search the apportionments and view tithe maps.^[9] The black and white maps and apportionments that are online cover all that are available for England and Wales while there is an ongoing project by TheGenealogist to scan the originals in colour, some of which they have already made available.^[10]

Most of the extant parish copies are now held at the county record office. The diocesan copies for most Welsh parishes are held in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth. Prior to the publication of large scale Ordnance Survey maps in the late 19th century, tithe maps were frequently copied (in whole or part) for other purposes: for example in connection with planned railways, or as part of the title deeds transferred on a sale of land. More recently, tithe maps and apportionments have often been used for reference by genealogists and other historical researchers. For many parishes they provide the only large scale map showing the landscape prior to the Industrial Revolution,^[11] and they frequently provide the earliest evidence for the field system in the parish.

Related Research Articles

A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques or via online giving, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural produce. After the separation of church and state, church tax linked to the tax system are instead used in many countries to support their national church. Donations to the church beyond what is owed in the tithe, or by those attending a congregation who are not members or adherents, are known as offerings, and often are designated for specific purposes such as a building program, debt retirement, or mission work.

The National Library of Wales, in Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the largest collections of archives, portraits, maps, and photographic images in Wales. The Library is also home to the national collection of Welsh manuscripts, the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales, and the most comprehensive collection of paintings and topographical prints in Wales. As the primary research library and archive in Wales and one of the largest research libraries in the United Kingdom, the National Library is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK) and the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL).

The Tithe War was a campaign of mainly nonviolent civil disobedience, punctuated by sporadic violent episodes, in Ireland between 1830 and 1836 in reaction to the enforcement of tithes on the Roman Catholic majority for the upkeep of the established state church, the Church of Ireland. Tithes were payable in cash or kind and payment was compulsory, irrespective of an individual's religious adherence.

The Counties Act 1844, which came into effect on 20 October 1844, was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which eliminated many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes. The changes were based on recommendations by a boundary commission, headed by the surveyor Thomas Drummond and summarized in a schedule attached to the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832. This also listed a few examples of civil parishes divided by county boundaries, most of which were dealt with by later legislation. This Act was repealed in its entirety by the Local Government Act 1972.

Chancel repair liability is a legal obligation on a small number of property owners in England and Wales to pay for certain repairs to a church, often the local parish church.

The Down Survey was a cadastral survey of Ireland, carried out by English scientist, William Petty, in 1655 and 1656. It was created to provide for precise re-allocation of land confiscated from the Irish.

The Tithe Act 1836, sometimes called the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is one of the Tithe Acts 1836 to 1891. It replaced the ancient system of payment of tithes in kind with monetary payments. It is especially noted for the tithe maps which were needed for the valuation process required by the Act. British Parliamentary Paper 1837 XLI 405 was published to give guidance on how landscape features were to be indicated on the maps. It is entitled ′Conventional signs to be used in the plans made under the Act for the Commutation of Tithes in England and Wales′

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eglwyswen</span> Village and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales

Eglwyswen is a scattered rural settlement and parish in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north slopes of the Preseli Hills, 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northwest of Crymych. The south-western part of the parish is in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and includes the settlements of Pontyglasier and Penygroes. The parish is part of the community of Crymych.

Estate maps were maps commissioned by individual landowners or institutions, to show their extensive landed property, typically including fields, parkland and buildings. They were used for display and estate management and were fashionable from the 16th to the 19th century.

Bodgate is a farmstead in east Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated in North Petherwin civil parish about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of North Petherwin village, five miles (8 km) north-west of Launceston. The parish was transferred from Devon to Cornwall in 1966.

The Composition for Tithes Act 1823, also known as the Tithe Composition Act 1823, was an act of the British Parliament requiring all occupiers of Irish agricultural holdings of over one acre to pay monetary tithes to support the Anglican Church in Ireland, instead of a percentage of agricultural yield. The act also allowed for those who paid a large tithe to be able to negotiate the composition of the tithes for their parish; that is to decide on what monetary basis the tithes would be based, so that the tithes would be reasonable in comparison to income for the tithe-payers and sufficient for the subsistence of the parishes. It was thought by some members of Parliament to be a conciliatory measure that would reduce the oppressive nature of the then current tithe system.

Gayton le Wold is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It lies 6 miles (10 km) west from Louth, 3 miles (5 km) north from Donington on Bain, and to the south of the A157. The parish includes Biscathorpe 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south-west.

Aneurin Owen was a Welsh historical scholar.

Penrydd is a former parish in the Hundred of Kilgerran, north Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish's history is closely linked with that of Castellan, and included parts of the present villages of Blaenffos and Crymych.

Llanfihangel Penbedw is a parish in the former Hundred of Kilgerran in northeast Pembrokeshire, Wales. The parish, a joint curacy with Capel Colman, in the Diocese of St David's in the Church in Wales, included the village of Boncath and part of the village of Blaenffos. The parish church is abandoned and the civil parish has been absorbed into Boncath Community.

The Ordnance Survey Great Britain County Series maps were produced from the 1840s to the 1890s by the Ordnance Survey, with revisions published until the 1940s. The series mapped the counties of Great Britain at both a six inch and twenty-five inch scale with accompanying acreage and land use information. Following the introduction of the Ordnance Survey National Grid in the 1930s the County Series maps were replaced by a new series of maps at each scale.

Tithe commutation was a 19th-century reform of land tenure in Great Britain and Ireland, which implemented an exchange of the payment of a tithe to the clergy of the established church, which were traditionally paid in kind, to a system based in an annual cash payment, or once-and-for-all payment. The system had become complex, with lay owners by impropriation entitled to some tithes, which were of a number of kinds.

The Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was made to provide for a grant to be made from the Treasury to enable the Welsh Church Commissioners to carry out their task and to set a date for the implementation of the disestablishment of the Church in Wales from the Church of England mandated by the Welsh Church Act 1914. Operation of this Act had been delayed by the Suspensory Act 1914, initially until 18 September 1915, and subsequently by a series of Orders in Council made under the Suspensory Act. The 1919 Act therefore provided for a final postponement until the Welsh Church Act 1914 would come into operation.

Peter Williams was a prominent leader of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism in the eighteenth century, best known for publishing Welsh-language bibles and bible commentary.

The Welsh Church Commissioners were set up by the Welsh Church Act 1914 to deal with the disendowment of the Church of England in Wales, as part of its disestablishment. Their task was to ascertain which ecclesiastical assets the future Church in Wales should retain, and which should be transferred to local authorities, and to various Welsh national institutions. They were required to transfer those assets which the Church in Wales was entitled to retain to the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. The remaining assets were to be transferred to the thirteen county councils and four county borough councils which existed in Wales until 1974, and to the University of Wales and its constituent colleges. For various reasons which are explained below, the process took considerably longer than was first envisaged. The commissioners could not ultimately be wound up until 1947. The assets transferred constituted the "Welsh Church Act Funds" of the respective institutions. The county and county borough councils hold the funds for charitable and other purposes. The funds are still in existence.

References

↑ Lockwood, p.24
↑ Kain and Prince, p.1
↑ Kain and Prince, p.5
↑ Roger Kain, Enclosure maps, tithe maps, parochial assessment maps, local Board of Health maps in Wallis
↑ Harley p.35
↑ Munby
↑ Foot, p.20
↑ "The National Archives research guide". The National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
↑ "Tithe record search on TheGenealogist". TheGenealogist. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
↑ "TNA research guide - How do I search for tithe maps?". The National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
↑ Harley, p.35

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Lockwood, p.24

[2] Kain and Prince, p.1

[3] Kain and Prince, p.5

[4] Roger Kain, Enclosure maps, tithe maps, parochial assessment maps, local Board of Health maps in Wallis

[5] Harley p.35

[6] Munby

[7] Foot, p.20

[8] "The National Archives research guide". The National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[9] "Tithe record search on TheGenealogist". TheGenealogist. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[10] "TNA research guide - How do I search for tithe maps?". The National Archives. Retrieved 7 August 2017.

[11] Harley, p.35

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]