Wisnom Land Grants 1721/1791

Ginna:

Welcome to Ireland Reaching Out!

Our Co. Antrim expert is on Holidays until after the first of the year. Would it be OK to hold this message until he returns? Thanks!

Roger McDonnell

Absolutely! Happy Holidays! Ginna

Ginna,

Registration of land ownership only became compulsory in the 1990s so there’s no comprehensive record of who owned each piece of land in the 1600s or 1700s.  Some records exist in the Registry of Deeds and elsewhere eg in PRONI in Belfast. The PRONI e-catalogue does have some references to Duff’s Hill and to Wisnoms in Co Antrim but none specifically appear to be for your family.

It might be worth checking the Registry of Deeds records to see if any Wisnom transactions are recorded there, eg the 1721 or 1791 transactions. It wasn’t compulsory to register Deeds but many people did, in case the originals went missing. If you search by townland name (North East Division in this case), you may find some leases, marriages settlements etc for your family. The records are on-line on the LDS site but if you are not familiar with them you may find them difficult to search and interpret. You might need a researcher to help yo, by searching the copies in PRONI. (They are on microfilm there)

Hi Elwyn:

Thank you again for your guidance. I have located 4 Wisnoms (Wisnon) in the Tithe Applotment Books 1823-1838 in Carrickfergus Parish (irishgenealogyhub.com). The records indicate a location called Bray Land, and Hogs Park. and a year 1816. Would you be able to tell me the location of Bray Land and Hogs Park or a general area. And could you confirm my thinking that the 1816 year is the year of the lease started, or is it the year the record was taken? Is there a way to know who the landowner was who held the lease?

Thank you again. Your service is invaluable to me here in the states.

Ginna Wisnom Beckett

1816 is simply the year the tithe records were taken. It does not indicate a start date for a lease, just the date these tithes were levied. The tithes were taken every year but in most cases only sample years records have survived, and are on-line.  To be in the tithes you had to have land. (So weavers, labourers and other tradesmen weren’t listed. You can assume most people in the tithes were farmers).

If you are looking for leases then you need to search the Registry of Deeds records as I mentioned before, and perhaps also the Encumbered Estates records. The Encumbered Estates Court records are on findmypast, and list details of estates put up for sale as a result of the landlords getting into financial difficulties. (Overvalued property and excessive mortgages they couldn’t repay. Much as in the recent property crashes 10 years ago). These records show all the tenants leases, many of which go back to the 1790s,

I had a look at the map of North East Division on Griffiths. It's full of places named Bray (Brae) and Park. I couldn’t see Bray Land or Hogs Park, but if you spend more time you might spot them. Try the other townlands either side. They will be small areas within the main townlands within the parish of Carrickfergus. Its possible that the names fell into disuse over the years, and had gone by the time of Griffiths maps c 1870. But maybe not.

The main landowners around Carrickfergus in the 1820s were the Marquess of Donegall & the Marquess of Down, but many plots were sublet all over the place.  No one estate owned everything.