A road-sign in County Antrim, noting that this part of the road lies within Teeshan townland

A (rare) townland boundary marker

A townland or bally (Irish: Baile Fearainn) is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of Gaelic origin, pre-dating the Normans,^[1][2][3][4] with most townlands believed to pre-date the Norman invasion and many retaining their Gaelic names.^[2] Some townland names and boundaries however derive from Norman manors, plantation divisions, or later creations of the Ordnance Survey.^[5][6] There are currently 61,402 named townlands in Ireland, covering the whole island.^[7]

Background[link]

In Ireland, a townland is the smallest administrative division of land.^[8] Whilst the concept of townlands is based on the Gaelic system of land division, it was in the 1600s that they became mapped and defined by the English administration for the purpose of portioning the land for investors or grants.^[8] The first official evidence of the existence of this Gaelic land division system can be found in church records from before the 12th century.^[9]

Etymology[link]

The term "townland" in English is derived from the Old English word tun, similar to the Irish word tuath, denoting an enclosure.^[10] The term describes the smallest units of land division in Ireland. These are based upon various different kinds 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.^[11] Whilst today the term "bally" denotes a town or urban settlement, its precise meaning in ancient Ireland is unclear, as towns had no place in Gaelic social organisation.^[11] The modern Irish term for a townland is baile fearainn (plural: balite fearainn). The term fearainn means "land, territory, quarter"—from a Proto-Indo-European root *wer- which is also related to the English word ware, a valuable commodity.^{[citation needed]}

The Normans despite not having a serious influence on townland names 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.^[12]

Historical land divisions and etymology[link]

Throughout most of Ulster, townlands were known as "ballyboes" (Irish: baile bó, meaning "cow land"^[13]),^[14] and represented an area of pastoral economic value.^[13] In County Cavan, similar units were called "polls", and in counties Fermangh and Monaghan they were known as "tates" or "taths".^[11][13][14] These names appear to be of English origin, however naturalised long before the 1600s.^[13] In modern townland names, the prefix pol- is widely found throughout western Ireland, with "hole" or "hollow" its accepted meaning.^[13] In County Cavan however (which contains over half of all townlands in Ulster with the pol- prefix) some of those should be translated as meaning "the poll of...".^[13] In regard to tates, the modern distribution of townlands with the prefix tat- is confined almost exclusively to the dicoese of Clogher (which covers counties Fermanagh, Monaghan, and Clogher barony in County Tyrone).,^[13] and it cannot be confused with any other Irish word.^[13]

In County Tyrone the following hierarchy of land division was used: "ballybetagh" (Irish: baile biataigh, meaning "victualler's place"); "ballyboe"; "sessiagh" (Irish: séú cuid, meaning sixth part of a quarter); "gort" and "quarter" (Irish: ceathrú).^[11] In County Fermanagh it was: "ballybetagh"; "quarter" and "tate".^[11] Further sub-divisions in Fermanagh appear to be related to liquid or grain measures such as "gallons", "pottles", and "pints".^[15]

In Ulster the ballybetagh was the territorial unit controlled by an Irish sept, typically containing around 16 townlands. The result of ballybetagh fragmentation saw the use of 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 1608 survey for County Donegal.^[16] In the early 17th century, 20% of the total area of western Ulster was under the control of the church. These "termon" lands consisted likewise of ballybetaghs and ballyboes, however were held by erenaghs instead of sept leaders.^[16]

Other units of land divisions used throughout Ireland include:

• In County Tipperary, "capell lands" and "quatermeers" were used. A "Capell land" consisted of around 20 great acres, of which an acre equalled 20 English acres.^[11]
• In the province of Connacht, "quarters" and "cartrons" (Irish: ceathrú mír; also anglicised as "carrowmeer") were used. A quarter being reckoned as being four cartrons, and each cartron being 30 acres.^[11] The quarter has also been anglicised as "carrow", "carhoo", and "caracute" (Irish: ceathrú cuid).^[11]
• In County Clare, as in Connacht, the most common land divisions were: "quarters"; "half-quarters" (Irish: leath-ceathrú); "cartrons" and "sessiagh". Here a "half-quarter" equated to around 60 acres, a "cartron" equated to around 30 acres, and a "sessiagh" to around 20 acres.^[11]

"Cartrons" were also sometimes called "ploughlands" or "seisreagh" (Irish: seisreach, meaning a team of horses yoked to a plough).^[11]

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 as being:^[8][11]

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 did not apply uniformly across Ireland for example a ballybetagh or townland could contain more or less than four ploughlands.^[8] Further confusion arises when it is taken into account that whilst Larcom used the general term acres in his summary, terms such as 'great acres', 'large acres', and 'small acres' were also used in records.^[8] Writing in 1846, Larcom remarks 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, for example: the Irish acre; English acre; Cunningham acre; plantation acre and statute acre.^[8][11] The Ordnance Survey maps used the statute acre measurement.^[8] The quality and situation of the land affected the size of these acres.^[11] The Cunningham acre is given as being a medium between the Irish and English acre.^[11]

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 form has been preserved in the townland names of Carrowmeer, Cartron, and Carrowvere, whilst the term "sessiagh" in those of Shesia, Sheshodonell, Sheshymore, and Shessiv.^[11] The terms "ballyboe" and "ballybetagh" tend to be preserved in the truncated form of "bally" as a prefix for some place names. Lesser known land division terms may be found in other townland names such as Coogulla (Irish: Cuige Uladh, "the Ulster fifth"), Treanmanagh (Irish: an train meánach, "the third middle"), and Dehomade (Irish: an deichiú méid, "the tenth part").^[11]

A problem with the term "bally" in some place names is that it can be difficult to distinguish between the Irish term baile meaning "townland" or béal átha meaning "approach to a ford". An example of the latter would be Ballyshannon, County Donegal, which is derived from Béal Átha Seanaidh.^[17]

Size and value[link]

Townlands vary in size from the smallest, of less than an acre (Old Church Yard, Carrickmore, parish of Termonmagurk, County Tyrone), up to 7,012 acres (28.38 km²) or 28.3 km² (Sheskin, parish of Kilcommon, County Mayo).^[5] Typically 200 to 400 acres (1.6 km²) is a reasonable average.^[18]

The ballyboe (a townland unit used in Ulster) was described in 1608 as containing sixty 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.^[11][14] This economic potential ranged from the extent of land required to graze cattle to the land required to support several families.^[14] The highest density of townland units recorded in Ulster in 1609 corresponds to the areas with the highest land valuations in the 1860s.^[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".^[19]

Irish Ordnance Survey and standardisation[link]

During the 19th century, an extensive series of maps of Ireland were created by the Irish division of the Ordnance Survey for taxation purposes, which documented and standardised the boundaries of the more than 60,000 townlands in Ireland. This process often involved dividing or amalgamation of existing townlands, and defining townland boundaries in areas such as mountain or bog land that had previously been outside the townland system.^[9]

Current use[link]

A typical road-sign in County Tyrone, noting that this part of the road passes through the townland of Cavanreagh

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). Before 1972, townlands were included on all postal addresses throughout the island. However, in 1972 Royal Mail decided that the townland element of the address was obsolete in Northern Ireland.^[9] Townland names were not banned but were deemed "superflouous information" and people were asked not to include them on addresses.^[9] They would be replaced by house numbers, road names, and postcodes.^[9] 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.^[9] Townlands and their names "seem to have been considered as a shared resource and heritage".^[9] 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. Royal Mail's changes were seen as a severing of this link.^[9]

At the time, the county councils were the government bodies responsible for validating such a change. However, as local government itself was undergoing changes, Royal Mail's decision was "allowed ... to become law almost by default".^[9] County Fermanagh is the only Northern Ireland county that managed to resist the scheme completely.^[9] Nevertheless, most road signs in Northern Ireland continue to show townland names (see picture on the right). 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 continued to be used on addresses. However, in 2005 the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources announced that the postcode system is to be introduced (see Republic of Ireland postal addresses). In 2012 postcodes are still not in use in Ireland and townland remains the predominant address identifier in rural areas.

A useful source of information on townlands (with an emphasis on the northern parts of Ireland) is the Federation for Ulster Local Studies. Its publications include Every Stony Acre Has a Name: Celebration of the Townland in Ulster by Tony Canavan, and Townlands in Ulster: Local History Studies, edited by W.H. Crawford & R.H. Foy.

Other townland like systems[link]

England[link]

England had similar pre-medieval land divisions to that used in Ireland, however unlike the Irish system it has failed to survive into the 20th century. In England the system included: vills (from which we get the term villages); trefs; towns; townships; baileys; and shires.^[12]

Scotland[link]

In Scotland, townland boundaries were generally disregarded and lost during 19th century agricultural improvements.^{[citation needed]} Townlands were called also fermlands and many names remain identifiable in farmstead names which include the word Mains, and "Bal-" (Baile) in placenames, such as Balerno or Balmoral.

Townlands in Scotland were often in contradistinction to kirktouns (Clachan), which were settlements with a church, sometimes of ecclesiastical origin.^{[citation needed]}

See also Township (Scotland) for the crofting context.

Isle of Man[link]

There may be similarities between the notion of townlands in Ireland and the traditional land divisions of treens (c.f. the Irish word trian, a third part) in the Isle of Man. Treens are subdivided into smaller units called quarterlands.^[20]

See also[link]

• Lists of townlands in Ireland by county

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Discussion of traditional Gaelic units of land measurement
• Celebrating Ulster's Townlands Exhibition (Ulster Placename Society)

External links[link]

All island

• Mapviewer (Ordnance Survey Ireland) historical townland, civil parish and barony boundaries (select Historic 6-inch (1830s) or Historic 25-inch (c.1900) layers)
• Logainm.ie (Placenames Database of Ireland) search/browse by parish/barony/county, English and Irish names
• IreAtlas townland database (John Broderick) searchable database derived from the Index to the 1851 Census
• Townland indexes to pre-1921 censuses, digitized from command papers for EPPI: Index to 1841,1851 censuses, Index to 1871 census, 1881 supplement to 1871 index, Supplement for the 1911 census
• 1911 Census details (National Archives of Ireland) Arranged by County>DED>Townland>Household

Republic

• Envision (Beta) Environmental Protection Agency map tool (select Operational Layers>General Administrative>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 (select Subjects>Townland)
  • Six Inch Series (select Map Contents>EHS/SixInchSeries>Townland)

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