Townland
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates
A townland (Template:Langx; Ulster-Scots: toonlann<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>) is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite book Reprinted from the Report of the Crofter Royal Commission.
- Further reprinted in Template:Cite journal</ref> The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion,<ref name="Barry114">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Colfer29">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Graham149">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Surveying">Template:Cite book</ref> and most have Irish-derived names.<ref name="Colfer29"/> However, some townland names and boundaries come from Norman manors, plantation divisions, or later creations of the Ordnance Survey.<ref name="Connolly2002p577">Connolly, S. J., The Oxford Companion to Irish History, page 577. Oxford University Press, 2002. Template:ISBN</ref><ref name="Maxwell2009pg16">Maxwell, Ian, How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors, page 16. howtobooks, 2009. Template:ISBN</ref> Townlands cover the whole island of Ireland, and the total number of inhabited townlands in Ireland was 60,679 in 1911.<ref name="census1911">Template:Cite web</ref> The total number recognised by the Placenames Database of Ireland as of 2014 was 61,098, including uninhabited townlands.<ref name="Logainm Count of Townlands.">Template:Cite web</ref>
Etymology
The term "townland" in English is derived from the Old English word tūn, denoting an enclosure.<ref>Ballymun, A History: Volumes 1 & 2, c. 1600–1997 Template:Webarchive by Dr. Robert Somerville-Woodward, BRL 2002.</ref> The term describes the smallest unit of land division in Ireland, based on various forms of Gaelic land division, many of which had their own names.
The term baile, anglicised as "bally", is the most dominant element used in Irish townland names.<ref name="Clare"/> Today, the term "bally" denotes an urban settlement, but its precise meaning in ancient Ireland is unclear, as towns had no place in Gaelic social organisation.<ref name="Clare"/> The modern Irish term for a townland is baile fearainn (plural: bailte fearainn). The term fearann means "land, territory, quarter".
The Normans left no major traces in townland names, but they adapted some of them for their own use, possibly seeing a similarity between the Gaelic baile and the Norman bailey, both of which meant a settlement.<ref name="ULS"/>
Regional variation
Throughout most of Ulster, townlands were known as "ballyboes" (Template:Langx, meaning "cow land"),<ref name="PoUpg25">Robinson 2000, p.25</ref><ref name="PoUpg13-14">Robinson 2000, pp. 13–14</ref> and represented an area of pastoral economic value.<ref name="PoUpg25"/> In County Cavan similar units were called "polls", and in Counties Fermanagh and Monaghan, they were known as tates or taths.<ref name="Clare"/><ref name="PoUpg25"/><ref name="PoUpg13-14"/> These names appear to be of English origin, but had become naturalised long before 1600.<ref name="PoUpg25"/> Modern townlands with the prefix tat- are confined almost exclusively to the diocese of Clogher, which covers Counties Fermanagh and Monaghan, and the barony of Clogher in County Tyrone,<ref name="PoUpg25"/> and cannot be confused with any other Irish word.<ref name="PoUpg25"/> The use of the term can also be seen in the diocese of Clogher parish of Inniskeen area within Louth where the townlands of Edenagrena, Drumsinnot, Killaconner and Torpass were referred to collectively as "the four tates of Ballyfoylan."Template:Citation needed In modern townland names the prefix pol- is widely found throughout western Ireland, its accepted meaning being "hole" or "hollow".<ref name="PoUpg25"/> In County Cavan, which contains over half of all townlands in Ulster with the prefix pol-, some should probably be better translated as "the poll of ...".<ref name="PoUpg25"/>
In County Tyrone, the following hierarchy of land divisions was used: "ballybetagh" (Template:Langx, meaning "cattle place"), "ballyboe", "sessiagh" (Template:Langx, meaning sixth part of a quarter), "gort" and "quarter" (Template:Langx).<ref name="Clare"/> In County Fermanagh the divisions were "ballybetagh", "quarter" and "tate".<ref name="Clare"/> Further subdivisions in Fermanagh appear to be related to liquid or grain measures such as "gallons", "pottles" and "pints".<ref name="PoUpg26">Robinson 2000, p.26</ref>
In Ulster, the ballybetagh was the territorial unit controlled by an Irish sept, typically containing around 16 townlands. Fragmentation of ballybetaghs resulted in units consisting of four, eight, and twelve townlands. One of these fragmented units, the "quarter", representing a quarter of a ballybetagh, was the universal land denomination recorded in the survey of County Donegal conducted in 1608.<ref name="PoUpg22-23">Robinson 2000, pp.22-23</ref> In the early 17th century 20 per cent of the total area of western Ulster was under the control of the church. These "termonn" lands consisted likewise of ballybetaghs and ballyboes, but were held by erenaghs instead of sept leaders.<ref name="PoUpg22-23"/>
Other units of land division used throughout Ireland include:
- In County Tipperary, "capell lands" and "quatermeers". A "capell land" consisted of around 20 great acres (one great acre equalled 20 English acres).<ref name="Clare"/>
- In the province of Connacht, "quarters" and "cartrons" (Template:Langx, also anglicised as "carrowmeer"), a quarter being reckoned as four cartrons, and each cartron being 30 acres.<ref name="Clare"/> The quarter has also been anglicised as "carrow", "carhoo" or "caracute" (Template:Langx).<ref name="Clare"/>
- In County Clare, as in Connacht, "quarters", "half-quarters" (Template:Langx), "cartrons" and "sessiagh". Here a "half-quarter" equated to around 60 acres, a "cartron" equated to around 30 acres and a "sessiagh" was around 20 acres.<ref name="Clare"/>
"Cartrons" were also sometimes called "ploughlands" or "seisreagh" (Template:Langx, meaning a team of horses yoked to a plough).<ref name="Clare"/>
Thomas Larcom, the first Director of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, made a study of the ancient land divisions of Ireland and summarised the traditional hierarchy of land divisions thus:<ref name="Fossa">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Clare"/>
10 acres – 1 Gneeve; 2 Gneeves – 1 Sessiagh; 3 Sessiaghs – 1 Tate or Ballyboe; 2 Ballyboes – 1 Ploughland, Seisreagh or Carrow; 4 Ploughlands – 1 Ballybetagh, or Townland; 30 Ballybetaghs – Triocha Céad or Barony.
This hierarchy was not applied uniformly across Ireland. For example, a ballybetagh or townland could contain more or less than four ploughlands.<ref name="Fossa"/> Further confusion arises when it is taken into account that, while Larcom used the general term "acres" in his summary, terms such as "great acres", "large acres" and "small acres" were also used in records.<ref name="Fossa"/> Writing in 1846, Larcom remarked that the "large" and "small" acres had no fixed ratio between them, and that there were various other kinds of acre in use in Ireland, including the Irish acre, the English acre, the Cunningham acre, the plantation acre and the statute acre.<ref name="Fossa"/><ref name="Clare"/> The Ordnance Survey maps used the statute acre measurement.<ref name="Fossa"/> The quality and situation of the land affected the size of these acres.<ref name="Clare">Template:Cite web</ref> The Cunningham acre is given as intermediate between the Irish and English acres.<ref name="Clare"/>
Many of these land division terms have been preserved in the names of modern townlands. For example, the term "cartron" in both its English and Irish forms has been preserved in the townland names of Carrowmeer, Cartron and Carrowvere, while the term "sessiagh" survives in the names Shesia, Sheshodonell, Sheshymore and Shessiv.<ref name="Clare"/> The terms "ballyboe" and "ballybetagh" tend to be preserved in the truncated form of "bally" as a prefix for some townland names, such as Ballymacarattybeg near Poyntzpass, County Down. Less well-known land division terms may be found in other townland names such as Coogulla (Template:Langx, "the Ulster fifth"), Treanmanagh (Template:Langx, "the third middle") and Dehomade (Template:Langx, "the tenth part").<ref name="Clare"/>
A problem with the term "bally" in some townland names is that it can be difficult to distinguish between the Irish terms baile meaning "townland" and béal átha meaning "approach to a ford". An example of the latter is Ballyshannon, County Donegal, which is derived from Béal Átha Seanaidh.<ref name="IPA">Toner, Gregory: Place-Names of Northern Ireland, page 120. Queen's University of Belfast, 1996, Template:ISBN</ref>
"Sub-townlands" (Template:Langx) are also recorded in some areas, smaller divisions of a townland with their own traditional names.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Size and value
In Ireland, a townland is generally the smallest or lowest-level unit of land, though a few large townlands are further divided into hundreds.<ref name="Fossa"/> The average area of a townland is about Template:Convert,<ref>Template:Cite journal; cited in Template:Cite book</ref> but they vary widely in size. William Reeves's 1861 survey states that the smallest was Old Church Yard, near Carrickmore, in the parish of Termonmagurk, County Tyrone, at Template:Convert<ref group="nb">2 roods, 10 perches</ref><ref>Reeves 1861, p.476</ref> and the largest, at Template:Convert, was and is Fionnán (also called Finnaun) in the parish of Killanin, County Galway.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>1861 townland index, p.462</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In fact, the townland of Clonskeagh in the barony of Uppercross (abutting the main Clonskeagh townland in the barony of Dublin) was only Template:Convert<ref group="nb">1 rood, 8 perches</ref><ref>1861 townland index, p.258</ref> although the area is now urbanised, so that the townlands are unused and their boundaries are uncertain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The ballyboe, a townland unit used in Ulster, was described in 1608 as containing 60 acres of arable land, meadow, and pasture. However, this was misleading, as the size of townlands under the Gaelic system varied depending upon their quality, situation and economic potential.<ref name="Clare"/><ref name="PoUpg13-14"/> This economic potential varied from the extent of land required to graze cattle to the land required to support several families.<ref name="PoUpg13-14"/> The highest density of townland units recorded in Ulster in 1609 corresponds to the areas with the highest land valuations in the 1860s.<ref name="PoUpg13-14"/>
It seems that many moorland areas were not divided into townlands until fairly recently. These areas were "formerly shared as a common summer pasturage by the people of a whole parish or barony".<ref name="Evans">Template:Cite book</ref>
Historical use
Until the 19th century most townlands were owned by single landlords and occupied by multiple tenants. The cess, used to fund roadworks and other local expenses, was charged at the same rate on each townland in a barony, regardless of its size and productive capacity. Thus, occupiers in a small or poor townland suffered in comparison to those of larger or more fertile townlands. This was reformed by Griffith's Valuation.<ref>Template:Cite FTP</ref>
It was in the 1600s that they were mapped and defined by the English administration for the purpose of confiscating land and apportioning it to investors or planters from Britain.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Fossa"/>
Irish Ordnance Survey and standardisation
During the 19th century an extensive series of maps of Ireland was created by the Irish division of the Ordnance Survey for taxation purposes. These maps both documented and standardised the boundaries of the more than 60,000 townlands in Ireland. The process often involved dividing or amalgamating existing townlands, and defining townland boundaries in areas such as mountain or bog that had previously been outside the townland system.<ref name="Senses">Template:Cite book</ref> Slight adjustments are still made. There were 60,679 in 1911, compared to 60,462 townlands in 1901.<ref name="census1911"/>
Current use
Townlands form the building blocks for higher-level administrative units such as parishes and district electoral divisions (in the Republic of Ireland) or wards (in Northern Ireland).Template:Citation needed
Before 1972 townlands were included on all rural postal addresses throughout the island, but in that year the Royal Mail decided that the townland element of the address was obsolete in Northern Ireland.<ref name="Senses"/> Townland names were not banned, but they were deemed "superfluous information" and people were asked not to include them on addresses.<ref name="Senses"/> They were to be replaced by house numbers, road names and postcodes.<ref name="Senses"/> In response the Townlands Campaign emerged to protest against the changes. It was described as a "ground-level community effort". Taking place in the midst of The Troubles, the campaign was a rare example of unity between Catholics and Protestants, nationalists and unionists.<ref name="Senses"/> Townlands and their names "seem to have been considered as a shared resource and heritage".<ref name="Senses"/> Those involved in the campaign argued that, in many areas, people still strongly identified with their townlands and that this gave them a sense of belonging. The Royal Mail's changes were seen as a severing of this link.<ref name="Senses"/>
At the time the county councils were the government bodies responsible for validating the change. However, as local government itself was undergoing changes, the Royal Mail's decision was "allowed ... to become law almost by default".<ref name="Senses"/> County Fermanagh is the only county in Northern Ireland that managed to resist the change completely.<ref name="Senses"/> Nevertheless, many newer road signs in parts of Northern Ireland now show townland names (see picture). In 2001 the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion requesting government departments to make use of townland addresses in correspondence and publications.
In the Republic of Ireland townlands continue to be used on addresses. In 2005 the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources announced that a postcode system was to be introduced (see Republic of Ireland postal addresses). The system, known as Eircode, was introduced in 2014, but although more widely used by 2021, townlands remain predominant address identifiers in rural areas.Template:Citation needed
See also
Explanatory footnotes
References
General and cited references
Citations
Further reading
External links
- All island
- GeoHive Mapviewer Template:Webarchive: select Data Catalogue>Base Information and Mapping>Historic Map [25 inch (1888–1913) / 6 inch (1837–1842)] for old Ordnance Survey of Ireland maps
- Logainm.ie (Placenames Database of Ireland) search/browse by parish/barony/county, English and Irish names
- Template:Cite book
- IreAtlas townland database (John Broderick) searchable database derived from the Index to the 1851 Census
- Townland indexes to pre-1921 censuses, digitised from command papers: 1861 index (to 1841/1851 censuses); 1871 index, 1881 supplement, 1891 supplement 1901 index, 1911 supplement
- 1911 Census details (National Archives of Ireland) Arranged by County>DED>Townland>Household
- Townland data from OpenStreetMap Townlands, Baronies and Civil Parishes are being added to OpenStreetMap, making them available as a modern geo format. This is a list of the townlands mapped in OpenStreetMap
- Republic
- GeoHive Mapviewer Template:Webarchive: select Data Catalogue>Population and Economy>Townlands
- Categories of Disadvantaged Areas Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Excel spreadsheet (per county) giving area in hectares, electoral division, and agricultural category of each townland
- Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland Place-Name Project Searchable using both maps and lists, with information about placename origins
- Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland:
- Mapviewer (includes layers with current and historical townland borders and names)
- Townland indexes to censuses: 1926 index; 1937 supplement
- By county
- Parishes of County Mayo (Mayo County Library) list of townlands by parish, with maps and other data
- Index of Townlands of County Kildare (Kildare Council Library's local studies department) IreAtlas data updated to 1911