Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History (60 page)

Tithe was collected not by a clergyman but by a
tithe-farmer
or tithe-proctor acting on his behalf. The clergyman received a fixed sum and the excess was retained by the proctor who was thereby motivated to exact every last penny. Inevitably the proctor was unpopular in local communities and particularly when he arrived to conduct the contentious annual valuation. Tithe was a recurring grievance throughout the eighteenth century yet anti-tithe agrarian societies often appeared more exercised about regulating the rate at which it was exacted than with the principle of tithe
per se
.
See
Whiteboys. The Tithe Composition Act of July 1823 (4 Geo. IV, c. 99) was introduced to remove some of the objectionable features by providing for the voluntary commutation of tithe to a fixed charge on the land. Commissioners appointed by the incumbent were to meet with parishioners to agree on a fixed sum to be paid by the parish. Parochial assessments were then conducted and the charge apportioned among tithe-payers relative to the amount and quality of land each held. This new charge did not fluctuate annually as it had done when the proctor valued the land and was to remain operative for 21 years. Pasturage was also brought within the compass of tithe. The Tithe Composition Act was not a success and contributed to the tithe war which began in November 1830 at Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny. Again the issue was the level at which tithe was exacted. The 1823 act had linked tithe with the average price of corn during the previous seven years, a period of high prices. When grain prices collapsed tithe-payers considered the fixed rate excessive. The situation was further aggravated in the 1820s by the campaign for
Catholic emancipation
. After the granting of emancipation in 1829 a vacuum was created which was filled by anti-tithe agitation. Finally, there was a sectarian overlay to the conflict. Catholics were growing ever more reluctant to contribute to an institution that reviled their beliefs and offered nothing in return.

In the early 1830s leadership on the issue was provided by the Catholic clergy, urban and middle-class repealers, Daniel O'Connell and wealthy Catholic graziers who had been caught for the first time by the extension of tithe to pasturage. In 1832 less than half the tithe was collected. In June of that year the Attorney-General's Act (2 & 3 Will. IV, c. 41) empowered the attorney-general to pay some of the 1831 arrears and to collect the rest by force. Stanley's composition act (2 William IV, c. 119) later in the year attempted to mitigate the worst aspects of tithe by making the assessment an official rather than a private arrangement, by slightly reducing the level of tithe, by exempting the poorest tenants from direct liability and by allowing a 15% rebate to landlords and better-off tenants who took responsibility for collecting it. However, less than one-third of tithe due between 1831 and 1833 was paid and government expeditions to collect the arrears cost more than was recovered. The violence continued. Under the
Church Million Act
(3 & 4 Will. IV, c. 100, 1833), the government assumed responsibility for the payment of all arrears for the years 1831–3 – subject to a scaling down of the amount owed – and no further attempt was made to pursue defaulters. By this time the Catholic church had begun to disassociate itself from tithe agitation and violence declined from 1835. In that year the
Lichfield House Compact
shifted the focus away from tithe to the principle of applying the supposed surplus to be generated by a new tithe reform act to extra-ecclesiastical purposes such as the education of the poor. O'Connell undertook not to press for the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, the repeal of the union or parliamentary reform in return for a reduction in tithe, municipal reform and the appointment of Catholics and liberal Protestants to public office and the judiciary in Ireland. In 1838 (1 & 2 Vict., c. 109) tithe and tithe composition was abolished and replaced with a rentcharge set at 75% of the nominal value of the tithe. Tithe was subsumed into rents and collected by landlords who received a bonus of up to 25% for assuming that responsibility. Thus the tithe war ended in a reduction in the level of tithe, the exemption of poorer tenants, the assumption by the treasury of responsibility for the payment of the bulk of arrears accumulated over eight years and with landlords replacing the proctors as collectors of tithe. Tithe was not abolished when the Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1869 – it remained payable to the state although later legislation permitted owners and occupiers of tithable land to compound for it.
See
tithe agistment, tithe applotment, tithe-farmer, tithe fish. (O'Donoghue, ‘Causes';
Idem
, ‘Opposition'.)

tithe agistment
. The tithe on pasturage for dry and barren cattle was regularly collected in Ulster but not in the rest of the country. With the increase in pasturage in the eighteenth century this tithe became a potentially valuable source of income to the Church of Ireland. A test case before
king's bench
in 1707 resulted in an adjudication in favour of the clergy, a judgement that was upheld in 1722 by the
exchequer
. Inevitably this aroused the ire of landlords. In 1736 parliament rejected the claims of the clergy and threatened a committee of inquiry into the pastoral duties of bishops and clergymen. Fearful of what such a committee might uncover the clergy backed down thereby liberating the rich graziers while the poorer classes continued to bear a disproportionate burden. Tithe agistment was abolished by 40 Geo. III c. 23 (1800) and land set to pasture eventually came within the compass of tithe after the passage of the Tithe Composition Act of 1823 (4 Geo. IV, c. 99).
See
tithe.

tithe applotment
. Tithe applotment was the process by which the value of
tithe
was calculated. The Tithe Composition Act (1823) allowed for the payment of tithe in cash rather than in kind and a nationwide valuation was conducted to calculate how much was due from each landholder. The valuation was carried out between 1823 and 1838 when tithe was replaced by a rentcharge. The original records of the early nineteenth-century tithe aplotments are available for inspection in the National Archives and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Sadly, the applotment books were not compiled to a uniform schedule. Some record townland names, occupiers' names, the amount of land held and the amount payable. Others also include the landlord's name and an assessment of the productive capacity of the land. Thus regional comparisons are not easy. In the absence of contemporaneous
census
returns the applotment books provide compensatory genealogical data and when used in conjunction with the post-Famine
Griffith's Valuation
reveal much about changing landholding patterns. (Simington, ‘The tithe', pp. 295–98.)

tithe farmer, tithe proctor
. The assessor and collector of tithe who paid the beneficial clergyman or tithe-owner a fixed sum and made a profit by maximising the amount collected. The tithe-farmer appeared in early summer to view the crops and estimate the likely yield. Just before harvest he returned to bargain with the grower. The practice of valuing crops by quantity in good years and by price in scarce years was particularly resented. Long-term failure to pay, and payment often lagged over a year behind, could result in a summons to appear before two magistrates who issued decrees in relation to the debt. For sums above £10 debtors could be summoned before the bishop's court. Disputes between tithe-farmers and tithe-payers were referred to the owner of the tithe for his adjudication. The Tithe Composition Act (1823) legislated for the extinction of the tithe-farmer by allowing for the voluntary commutation of tithe to a fixed charge on the land.

tithe fish
. It was customary for tithe on fish to be paid one-half in the parish of origin of the fishermen and one-half where the fish were landed.

tithing
. In feudal times, a form of social control that made groups of 10–12 villagers responsible for the good behaviour of each other. The tithing was the unit of collective responsibility associated with the
View of Frankpledge
.

titulado
. Person of distinction or title, nobleman, gentleman. The term is used in the 1660
poll tax
records to denote the leading proprietor(s) in a parish. The precise rank of each
titulado
is noted because the poll tax was levied according to a graduated scale.
See Census of Ireland circa 1659
.

toft
. A holding comprising a dwelling (plus outbuildings) and land. A
tenement
.

togher
. 1: A spatial unit of land measurement in Antrim, consisting of between two and three hundred acres 2: A wooden causeway.

tolboll
. The payment of a certain volume of beer to the lord by the brewer when brewing. In the course of a lawsuit in the sixteenth century St Thomas' Abbey, Dublin, claimed to have received a grant from King John of the tolboll of a gallon and a half of the best and as much of the second brew of the taverns of Dublin. Henry II continued the grant provided the abbey maintained 60 paupers and scholars in food, drink and clothing. (Berry, ‘Proceedings', pp. 169– 73.)
See
ale silver.

Toleration Act
(1719). The act (6 Geo. I, c. 9) which granted freedom of worship to dissenters. They retained their entitlement to vote and sit in parliament but were denied admission to local government and the magistracy. The act failed to satisfy
Presbyterians
because it did not revoke the sacramental test which barred them from taking office.
See
Test Act.

toll (tholl) and team (theam)
. Rights associated with the soc or jurisdiction of a manor. Toll was the right to exact a toll, tribute or custom on the sale of goods or cattle on a manorial estate and the right to take profits. Team was a grant to a manorial lord which entitled him to have, restrain and judge
bondsmen
or
villeins
and to adjudicate the rightful possession of cattle.
See
sac and soc.

toll thorough
. A toll exacted by a corporate town in consideration of services performed in the maintenance of streets (
pavage
), bridges (
pontage
) and walls (
murage
).

toll-road
. Toll-roads were created on major arterial routes to ensure that the burden of road maintenance was not borne by those inhabitants living in the baronies through which they passed.
See
six-day labour. Parliament legislated for the first Irish turnpike or toll-road, the Dublin to Kilcullen route, in 1729 and continued to legislate for new and existing toll-roads into the nineteenth century. The roads were supervised by a turnpike trust and financed by private capital in the expectation that tolls would meet maintenance costs and return a profit on the venture. Initial capital was raised by the issuing of debentures which yielded between 5% and 6% per annum. The Irish toll-road system failed to generate sufficient income to fund proper maintenance, interest payments were frequently in arrears and local inhabitants resented the double-taxation of tolls and county cess. The nineteenth-century railway boom hastened its demise. Following a commission of inquiry the turnpike trusts were wound up in 1855 and 1856. The term ‘turnpike' may derive from the barrier across the road which was turned or opened to allow passage to carts. (Broderick,
An early toll-road
.)

tonnage (tunnage)
. A customs duty of so much per ton or (in the case of wine) per tun.

top-entry house
. A nineteenth-century single-storey, over-basement, suburban house.

Topographia Hiberniae
. The Topography of Ireland
was written by Giraldus de Barri or Giraldus Cambrensis (Cambria) between 1185 and 1188 and contains an account of Ireland in the early years of the Norman invasion. The work is the result of a number of visits he made to the east and south-east of the country. Written in three parts, the book treats of topography and fauna, wonders and miracles, the history of Ireland and the nature of its inhabitants. It has been severely criticised for its inaccuracies, tall tales and credulity but it also provides a rare insight into twelfth century Ireland without which our understanding of the period would be greatly impoverished.
See Expugnatio Hibernica.
(Cambrensis,
Topographia
; Martin, ‘Gerald of Wales', pp. 279–292.)

Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, A
. Samuel Lewis' two-volume gazetteer of Ireland with accompanying atlas appeared in 1837. The aim of the dictionary was ‘to give, in a condensed form, a faithful and impartial description of each place'. Lewis compiled the material for his dictionary by drawing on official sources (census returns, parliamentary reports and inquiries, reports of the Board of Education and Ordnance Survey data) and by corresponding with ministers or resident gentleman in the localities. Correspondents also vouched for the proofs before the work was committed to print. Arranged by county, city, town and parish, entries typically include statistical data, brief histories, notes on topography, geology and flora, aspects of civil and ecclesiastical administration, details of economic activity and the names and residences of gentry. (Lewis,
A topographical dictionary
.)

toponym
. A descriptive placename derived from some topographical feature in the landscape, e.g. Tulach mór, a great mound.

tort
. A breach of legal duty for which a civil action may be taken. Thus reckless behaviour which imperils life or health or which provokes mental stress, defamation and the violation of privacy or property rights are all actionable under the law of torts. Negligence, the failure to perform a duty of care, is a central concept in torts. It is imperative, however, to establish that a duty of care was owed to the injured party and that an injury was indeed inflicted.

tory
. 1: In Ireland, a
rapparee
or rural bandit 2: The term was first used in political circles in 1679 by
Whigs
to disparage those who supported the accession to the throne of James, duke of York. Many Tories reluctantly accepted the new order which followed the ‘
glorious revolution
of 1688' but remained essentially conservative. They opposed the Whig philosophy of a contract between the ruler and the ruled and, as staunch Anglicans in England and Ireland, resisted attempts to introduce measures of toleration for dissenters. Although they enjoyed a brief period in office in 1710–14, their unease about the revolution during the reigns of George I and George II led to their complete exclusion from power between 1714 and 1760. When William Pitt the younger was elected prime minister in 1783 the Tories became the party of government until the 1830s after which they began to style themselves Conservatives. In the early eighteenth century Irish Toryism was strongest among Anglican churchmen but it declined because of its association with Jacobitism and because the dominant Whigs proved to have little sympathy for
Presbyterians
.