Townland

A townland is a small geographical unit of land used in Ireland and Scotland, and believed to be of Gaelic origin. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain.

1 Etymology
2 Townlands in Ireland
3 Townlands in Scotland
4 Treens and Quarterlands in the Isle of Man
5 See also
6 References
7 Links

Etymology

The English term townland is derived from the Old English word 'tun', in turn originating from the Old Norse word tún, which describes a homestead, or settlement. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Old Norse is the North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age The English language term was used by administrators to translate various Gaelic land measures.

The official term for 'townland' in Irish is baile fearainn (plural bailte fearainn); baile is the word for 'town' and fearann is 'land, territory, quarter', from a Proto-Indo-European root *wer- which is also related to the English word ware, a valuable commodity. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. (In Scottish Gaelic, the plural of the word baile is bailtean. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ) In the Isle of Man, the prefix "Balley-" is fairly common in farm names; the Manx for 'townland' is balley eirinagh, pl. The Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin ˈɛlʲən ˈvanɪn or Mann (Mannin) is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical Manx ( Gaelg or Gailck, ɡilk or) also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language once spoken on the Isle baljyn eirinagh.

Townlands in Ireland

In Ireland, a townland is the lowest-level officially-defined geographical unit of land, smaller than a parish, barony or county. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches "Baron" was also a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Such barons had no connection to any geographic barony A county is a Land area of Regional Government within a larger State. Townlands vary in size from as small as half an acre (2,000 m²) (Old Church Yard, near Carrickmore, County Tyrone) up to more than seven thousand acres (28 km²) (Sheskin, in north-west County Mayo). The acre is a unit of Area in a number of different systems including the imperial and U Carrickmore (An Charraig Mhór is a Village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Origin of townland system

The earliest reference to townlands as a unit are in 11th century pre-Norman legal documents referring to grants of bailte to monasteries. The later medieval period in Ireland (" Norman Ireland " was dominated by the Cambro-Norman invasion of the country in 1171. The term baile has a variety of related meanings in Irish, such as "home" (the basic meaning), "village" (sráid-bhaile, literally "street-town"), or "town" (baile mór, literally "big town"). In the context of placenames, the most accurate translation might be "the land belonging to a particular home or farmstead". The modern Irish for townland is baile fearainn, literally "a home of land".

The term townland is a standardised form, often replacing earlier local terms such as tate (in Fermanagh and Monaghan), cartron (in Connacht) or ploughland. County Fermanagh (fɚr'mænɘ Contae Fhear Manach or Fear Manach ('Men of Monach'in Irish) is the westernmost of the six counties that form Northern County Monaghan ('mɔnəhən Irish: Contae Mhuineacháin) is a county in Ireland. These terms represent a variety of native land divisions, varying in name from one part of the country to another, and forming a hierarchy of sizes.

The nineteenth-century surveyor Thomas Larcom, who was the first Director of the Irish Ordnance Survey, summarised the hierarchy as follows:

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. Major-General Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom 1st Baronet PC ( 24 December 1801 - 15 June 1879) was a leading official in the early Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi Irish: Suirbhéireacht Ordanáis Éireann) is the mapping agency in the Republic of Ireland and together with the Ordnance "Baron" was also a title in the Peerage of Ireland. Such barons had no connection to any geographic barony

(A complicating factor was that in Gaelic times, land was measured in terms of its economic potential rather than in fixed units of measurement: by the number of cattle that an area of pasture land could support, or by the time taken to plough an area of arable land. Therefore the size of an "acre" in this system could vary enormously depending on the quality of the land. )

Under English rule

Townlands were first named and their boundaries defined under the English legal system during the process of plantation. Plantations in 16th and 17th century Ireland were established throughout the country by the confiscation of lands occupied by Gaelic clans and Hiberno-Norman dynasties The unit from the hierarchy of land divisions that was chosen to represent a "townland", however, might vary from county to county; in Fermanagh and Monaghan, the tate was chosen, resulting in relatively small townlands, while in other areas, larger units such as ploughlands were chosen, resulting in larger townland units.

As explained previously, townland size was often determined by the fertility of the land, thus townlands in high quality land tended to be smaller, while townlands in mountainous or bog areas tended to be much larger in size. In many areas of Norman settlement, townland boundaries tend to follow field or individual property boundaries and may reflect the holdings of monasteries or churches or the boundaries of commonage. The open field system was the prevalent Agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in places Common land (a common) is a piece of land owned by one person but over which other people can exercise certain traditional rights such as allowing their livestock to graze In these areas, townlands often have apparently irregular boundaries and are of small size. In contrast, townlands in areas of traditional Gaelic settlement tend to be larger in area and usually have apparently regular boundaries determined by streams, rivers or roads.

Irish Ordnance Survey and standardisation

During the middle decades of 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 amalgamating existing townlands, and defining townland boundaries in areas such as mountain or bog land that had previously been outside the townland system.

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). A parish is a Local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in episcopal or presbyterian churches A District Electoral Division (often abbreviated as DED) was a low-level territorial division in Ireland. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. In Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States, a ward is an Electoral district Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of The townland name continues to be one of the more important divisions in the Irish postal system; although this role has now been replaced in urban areas and in most areas of Northern Ireland by road names. The Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion in 2001 requesting all Government departments in Northern Ireland to make use of townland addresses in their correspondence and publications. The Northern Ireland Assembly ( Irish: Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann Semmlie) is the devolved

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.

Townlands in Scotland

In Scotland, townland boundaries were generally disregarded and lost during 19th century agricultural improvements. 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. Mains ( Scottish Gaelic: Mànas) in Scotland normally refers to Farms It is a pseudo-plural actually being a Lowland Scots corruption Balerno is a Suburb of the Scottish capital Edinburgh. It is considered one of the wealthier suburbs and lies to the far south west of the city next

Townlands in Scotland were often in contradistinction to kirktouns (Clachan), which were settlements with a church, sometimes of ecclesiastical origin.

See also Township (Scotland) for the crofting context. In the Highlands and Islands of Scotland a crofting township is a group of agricultural smallholdings (each with its own few Hectares

Treens and Quarterlands in the Isle of Man

There may be similarities between the notion of townlands in Ireland and the traditional land divisions of treens (c. A Quarterland or Ceathramh ( Scottish Gaelic) was a Scottish land measurement f. the Irish word trian, a third part) in the Isle of Man. Treens are subdivided into smaller units called quarterlands[1].

References

Dictionary

-noun

An Irish geographical unit of land, smaller than a parish

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