Patrick Kissane contributes this information about the Books of Distribution and Survey and a transcription of the Survey for Killarney, presented in the table below.

Read about The Books of Survey and Distribution.

Most of the land mentioned in the Killarney extract is situated to the east of the present Killarney town. These lands would have been owned by the O' Donoghue of the Glen branch of the O' Donoghue clan. Even today, many of the persons resident in this area are named O' Donoghue.

The present-day State-owned Killarney National Park comprises much of the land owned by the O' Donoghues.

The Lord Kerry mentioned was Patrick FitzMaurice, 19th Baron of Kerry.

The Theo Jones mentioned was Theophilus Jones. He had been a member of Cromwell's Parliament and became Governor of Dublin. He was instrumental in bringing about the Restoration of Charles II.

In the 17th century, Killarney town was not much more than a village with one main street, viz. Main Street.

The records below are shown in six columns. Measurements are by acres, roods and perches. Some names have changed since the book was written. Where able to confirm a name or location, it is listed in brackets after the 17th century name. However some of the names mentioned are no longer in use and have no present-day equivalents.

1. The owner in 1641 i.e. prior to the Insurrection and Cromwellian plantation.
2. A description of the land: it is mainly a geographical place-name.
3. Unprofitable land e.g. bogs, mountains, lakes etc.
4. Profitable land e.g. arable and grazing land.
5. Acreage transferred. The acres are Plantation acres which equalled 1.62 of a statute acre.
6. The name of the owner in 1680 i.e. after a) the Plantation and b) the Restoration (which reversed some of the Plantation). However in many cases it shows Sir Valentine Browne as both the old owner and the new owner, that is, no change.

This page created January 15, 2013 for County Kerry, Ireland, at roosweb.ancestry.com and Ireland Genealogy Project.