The payment of tithes to the Anglican…

The payment of tithes to the Anglican (Episcopal) Church of Ireland is an obligation on those working the land to pay an annual tithe of ten percent of the value of certain types of agricultural produce for the upkeep of the church.

On the introduction of the Penal Laws from the 1600s, these payments had gone to the Anglican Church, despite the fact that the vast majority of the population are Roman Catholic.

Daniel O’Connell’s achievement of having most remaining Penal Laws repealed in 1829 (Catholic Emancipation) notwithstanding, the obligation to pay tithes remains.

More often than not, tithes are collected in the form of goods, especially livestock, as opposed to payment of monies, as little cash is available in the countryside.

There had been a campaign of largely peaceful resistance to collection since 1829 and it soon had a financial effect on the Anglican Clergy, who begin in 1831 to record lists of defaulters.

These lists of “Tithe Defaulters” identify almost thirty thousand individuals, with heavy concentrations of non-payers in counties Kilkenny, Tipperary and Wexford.

The lists are passed on to the Irish Constabulary, which had been established in 1822 to take over functions of the militia.