{{short description|Small land division in Ireland and Outer Hebrides}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}} [[File:Rathlin_Island_townlands.svg|thumb|upright=1.7|Map of Rathlin Island with townlands]] A '''townland''' ({{langx|ga|baile fearainn}}; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann''<ref>{{cite web|title=Rules o Richt Hannlin fur Uisin Ulstèr-Scotch as Pairt o Wark|url=http://217.35.77.12/CB/nireland/papers/pdfs/2004/p_ucs_UlsterScots_CodeofCourtesyfortheuseofUlsterScots.pdf|publisher=Norlin Airlann Coort Sarvice|access-date=4 May 2017}}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=no }}</ref>) is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering {{convert|100|-|500|acre|ha}}.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carmichael |first1=Alexander |title=Grazing and agrestic customs of the Outer Hebrides |date=1884 |publisher=Neill and Company |location=Edinburgh |url=https://archive.org/details/grazingagresticc00carm/page/452 |access-date=23 July 2019 |ol=22881363M}} Reprinted from the Report of the Crofter Royal Commission. :Further reprinted in {{cite journal |last1=Carmicheal |first1=Alexander |title=Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the Outer Hebrides |journal=The Celtic Review |date=December 1914 |volume=10 |issue=37 |pages=40–54 |doi=10.2307/30070316 |jstor=30070316 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/2370291 }}</ref> The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion,<ref name="Barry114">{{cite book |title=A History of Settlement in Ireland |last=Barry |first=Terry |year=2000 |publisher=Routledge |page=114 |chapter=Rural Settlement in Medieval Ireland |quote=She argued that Ireland's townland system, which pre-dated the Anglo-Norman conquest, worked against the creation of sizeable nucleated settlements.}}</ref><ref name="Colfer29">{{cite book |title=The Hook Peninsula |last=Colfer |first=Billy |year=2004 |publisher=Cork University Press |page=29 |chapter=Prehistoric and Early Christian Landscapes |quote=The townland network provides the most pervasive landscape survival from the Gaelic era. Most townlands, many retaining their Gaelic names, are believed to pre-date the arrival of the Anglo-Normans.}}</ref><ref name="Graham149">{{cite book |title=A companion to Britain in the later Middle Ages |last=Graham |first=Brian |year=2003 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |page=149 |chapter=Ireland: Economy and Society |quote=The manor was the basic unit of settlement throughout the Anglo-Norman colony. Anngret Simms and others have argued that the constraint of the pre-existing Gaelic-Irish network of townlands (the basic subdivision of land in Ireland, a townland was originally the holding of an extended family) pre-empted the formation of large villages on the Anglo-Norman manors of Ireland.}}</ref><ref name="Surveying">{{cite book |title=Surveying Ireland's Past |first1=Howard |last1=Clarke |first2=Jacinta |last2=Prunty |first3=Mark |last3=Hennessy |year=2004 |publisher=Geography Publications |page=113 |quote=It is clear that the Gaelic townland system of territorial organisation exerted a powerful centripetal force on the evolving settlement pattern.}}</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. {{ISBN|978-0-19-923483-7}}''</ref><ref name="Maxwell2009pg16">Maxwell, Ian, ''How to Trace Your Irish Ancestors'', page 16. howtobooks, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-84528-375-9}}</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">{{cite web |url=http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/about/ |title=Digitization of Irish 1901 and 1911 Census Records |work=Census of Ireland 1901/1911 and Census Fragments and Substitutes, 1821-51 |publisher=National Archives of Ireland |access-date=22 May 2014}}</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.">{{cite web|title=Logainm.ie The Irish Placenames Database|url=http://www.logainm.ie/en/|publisher=The Irish Placenames Committee/Fiontar|access-date=19 September 2014}}</ref>
==Etymology== The term "townland" in English is derived from the Old English word ''tūn'', denoting an enclosure.<ref>[http://www.brl.ie/pdf/Ballymun_A_History_1600_1997_Synopsis.pdf Ballymun, A History: Volumes 1 & 2, c. 1600–1997] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019192953/http://www.brl.ie/pdf/Ballymun_A_History_1600_1997_Synopsis.pdf |date=19 October 2013 }} 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== [[File:ImprovedTownlandsWithLegendInThurlesCivilParish.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|Map showing the townlands of the Thurles civil parish, Barony of Eliogarty, County Tipperary: The townlands of Thurles are typical, being of widely varying shapes and sizes with irregular borders, and forming a patchwork over the countryside. The townlands have a mean area of {{Convert|64|ha|acre}}.]]
Throughout most of Ulster, townlands were known as "ballyboes" ({{langx|ga|baile bó}}, 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."{{citation needed|date=June 2022}} 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" ({{langx|ga|baile beithigh}}, meaning "cattle place"), "ballyboe", "sessiagh" ({{langx|ga|séú cuid}}, meaning sixth part of a quarter), "gort" and "quarter" ({{langx|ga|ceathrú}}).<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" ({{langx|ga|ceathrú mír}}, 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" ({{langx|ga|ceathrú cuid}}).<ref name="Clare"/> *In County Clare, as in Connacht, "quarters", "half-quarters" ({{langx|ga|leath-ceathrú}}), "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" ({{langx|ga|seisreach}}, 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">{{Cite web |url=http://www.fossahistoricalsociety.com/downloads/25%20Of%20Gneeves.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161003134227fw_/http://www.fossahistoricalsociety.com/downloads/25%20Of%20Gneeves.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2016-10-03 |access-date=19 July 2019 |author=Fossa Historical Society |title=Chapter 23 – Of Gneeves}}</ref><ref name="Clare"/>
<blockquote>''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.''</blockquote>
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">{{cite web |url=http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/territorial_divisions/units_land_measurement.htm |title=Townlands |first=Michael |last=Mac Mahon |work=Old Territorial Divisions and Land Measures |publisher=Clare County Library}}</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 ({{langx|ga|Cuige Uladh}}, "the Ulster fifth"), Treanmanagh ({{langx|ga|an train meánach}}, "the third middle") and Dehomade ({{langx|ga|an deichiú méid}}, "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, {{ISBN|0-85389-613-5}}</ref>
"Sub-townlands" ({{Langx|ga|fo-bhaile}}) are also recorded in some areas, smaller divisions of a townland with their own traditional names.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.johngrenham.com/browse/retrieve_text.php?text_contentid=521|title=Irish Place names|website=johngrenham.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.teanglann.ie/en/fgb/sub-townland|title=Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla (Ó Dónaill): sub-townland|website=teanglann.ie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5215809/5213975/5221641|title=Townlands and Sub-Townlands|website=dúchas.ie}}</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 {{convert|325|acre|km2 ha}},<ref>{{cite journal |last=Adams |first=G. Brendan |year=1978 |title=Prolegomena to the Study of Irish Place-Names |journal=Nomina |volume=2 |pages=49–50}}; cited in {{cite book|last=Dolan|first=Terence Patrick|title=A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English |edition=2nd |year=2006|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|location=Dublin|chapter=townland}}</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 {{convert|0.625|acre|ha}}<ref group="nb">2 roods, 10 perches</ref><ref>Reeves 1861, p.476</ref> and the largest, at {{convert|7555|acre|km2 sqmi}}, was and is Fionnán (also called Finnaun) in the parish of Killanin, County Galway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.townlands.ie/galway/moycullen/cill-aithnin/cill-ainnin/fionnan/|title=Fionnán Townland, Co. Galway|website=townlands.ie}}</ref><ref>Agricultural and Emigration Statistics Office 1861 [https://archive.org/details/op1248631-1001/page/450/mode/1up p.450]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingschemesandpayments/singlepaymentsscheme/singlepaymentscheme/categoriesofdisadvantagedareas/GALWAY.xls|work=Categories of Disadvantaged Areas |publisher=Department of Agriculture |format=XLS |title=Galway |access-date=21 May 2014}}</ref> In fact, the townland of Clonskeagh in the barony of Uppercross (abutting the main Clonskeagh townland in the barony of Dublin) was only {{convert|0.3|acre|m2}}<ref group="nb">1 rood, 8 perches</ref><ref>Agricultural and Emigration Statistics Office 1861 [https://archive.org/details/op1248631-1001/page/258/mode/1up p.258]</ref> although the area is now urbanised, so that the townlands are unused and their boundaries are uncertain.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail1980022000041|title=Written Answers, Q.424: County Dublin Townland Populations|date=20 February 1980|work=Dáil Éireann debates|publisher=Oireachtas|pages=Vol. 318 No.1 p.41|access-date=21 May 2014}}</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">{{cite book |title=Irish Folk Ways |last=Evans |first=E Estyn |year=2000 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |pages=28–29 |chapter=Bally and Booley |quote=Their size varies considerably, since they were based on the fertility of the land rather than its acreage, and it seems that many moorland tracts were not divided until fairly recent times, for they were formerly shared as a common summer pasturage by the people of a whole parish or barony.}}</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>{{Cite FTP |last=Meghen|first=P. J.|date=Autumn 1958|title=The Administrative Work of the Grand Jury|volume=6|issue=3|server=Institute of Public Administration|url-status=dead|url=ftp://78.153.208.68/bkp/ipa/PDF/The_administrative_work_of_the_grand_jury.pdf}}</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>{{Cite journal |last=Brainstorming |date=2025-03-21 |title=The story of the first all-Ireland mapping survey 200 years ago |url=https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2025/0321/1455340-first-ordnance-survey-maps-ireland-geography-townlands-place-names/ |journal=RTE |language=en}}</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">{{cite book |last=Reid |first=Bryonie |title=Senses of Place: Senses of Time |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2005 |pages=47–60 |chapter=Identity, Locality and the Townland in Northern Ireland |quote=The first official evidence of their existence occurs in church records from before the twelfth century.}}</ref> Slight adjustments are still made. There were 60,679 in 1911, compared to 60,462 townlands in 1901.<ref name="census1911"/>
==Current use== [[File:Teeshanrd.jpg|thumb|A road sign in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, notes that this part of the road lies within Teeshan townland.]] [[File:Townland boundary marker - geograph.org.uk - 108106.jpg|thumb|A (rare) townland boundary marker in Inishowen, County Donegal]]
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).{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
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.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} Townland names and boundaries are rarely indicated physically on the landscape. One exception was a 2002 scheme funded by CLÁR, a rural development agency, to encourage local communities to erect stone signs with their townland name.<ref>Mac Giolla Easpaig 2008 p. 172</ref>
== Explanatory footnotes == {{Reflist|group=nb}}
== References == === General and cited references === * {{cite book |author1=Agricultural and Emigration Statistics Office |title=General alphabetical index to townlands and towns, parishes and baronies of Ireland |date=1861 |publisher=HMSO |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/op1248631-1001}} * {{cite book|editor-last=Barry|editor-first=Terry|title=A History of Settlement in Ireland|date=2012-11-12|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134674633}} * {{cite book |last1=Mac Giolla Easpaig |first1=Dónall |editor1-last=Nic Pháidín |editor1-first=Caoilfhionn |editor2-last=Ó Cearnaigh |editor2-first=Seán |title=A New View of the Irish Language |date=2008 |publisher=Cois Life |isbn=978-1901176827 |pages=164-177 |url=https://www.logainm.ie/download/placenames-policy-and-its-implementation.pdf |chapter=Placenames Policy and its Implementation}} * {{cite web |url=http://www.ulsterplacenames.org/celebrating_ulster's_townlands_exhibition.htm |title=Celebrating Ulster's Townlands |publisher=Ulster Placename Society |first=Kay |last=Muhr |date=1999–2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019130448/http://www.ulsterplacenames.org/celebrating_ulster%27s_townlands_exhibition.htm |archive-date=19 October 2006 }} * {{cite journal |jstor=20489906 |title=On the Townland Distribution of Ireland |first=W. |last=Reeves |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy |volume=7 |date=22 April 1861 |pages=473–490}} * {{cite book |first=Philip |last=Robinson |title=The Plantation of Ulster |publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation |date=2000 |isbn=978-1-903688-00-7}}
=== Citations === {{reflist| refs= <ref name="ULS">{{cite book|last=Canavan|first=Tony|title=Every Stoney Acre Has a Name: A Celebration of the Townland in Ulster|year=1991|publisher=Federation for Ulster Local Studies|isbn=9780951827901}}</ref> |2}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|last1=Crawford|first1=W. H.|last2=Foy|first2=R. H.|title=Townlands in Ulster: Local History Studies|date=1998-01-01|publisher=Ulster Historical Foundation|isbn=9780901905840}} * {{cite book |first=Tom |last=McErlean |chapter=The Irish townland system of landscape organisation |editor1-first=Terence |editor1-last=Reeves-Smyth |editor2-first=Fred |editor2-last=Hamond |title=Landscape Archaeology in Ireland |pages=315–39 |series=British Archaeological Reports British Series |volume=116 |isbn=0860542165 |doi=10.30861/9780860542162 |date=October 1983 }}
==External links== {{Wiktionary}}
;All island: *[https://geohive.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=3ae19cc156bf4706a929304bf8fcc4f6 GeoHive Mapviewer]: select Basemap Gallery>MapGenie 6 Inch or 25 Inch for old Ordnance Survey of Ireland maps *[http://logainm.ie/?uiLang=en Logainm.ie] (Placenames Database of Ireland) search/browse by parish/barony/county, English and Irish names *{{cite book |title=Topographical index of the parishes and townlands of Ireland in Sir William Petty's MSS barony maps (c. 1655-9) and Hiberniae Delineatio (c. 1672) |url=https://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/topographical-index-of-the-parishes-and-townlands-of-ireland-in-sir-william-pettys-mss-barony-maps-c-1655-9-and-hiberniae-delineatio-c-1672/ |editor-first=Yann M. |editor-last=Goblet |date=1932 |publisher=Irish Manuscripts Commission |access-date=19 October 2020}} *[http://www.thecore.com/seanruad/ 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: [https://archive.org/details/op1248631-1001 1861 index (to 1841/1851 censuses)]; [https://archive.org/details/op1250564-1001 1871 index], [https://archive.org/details/op1251359-1001 1881 supplement], [https://archive.org/details/op1252984-1001 1891 supplement] [https://archive.org/details/op1254784-1001 1901 index], [https://archive.org/details/op1256227-1001 1911 supplement] *[http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911 1911 Census details] (National Archives of Ireland) Arranged by County>DED>Townland>Household *[http://www.townlands.ie 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: *[https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/bdc13f643b68486c99e23abdaed0a98e Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer] (Tailte Éireann) has various basemaps showing townland boundaries, and a togglable townland layer at higher zoom levels *[https://web.archive.org/web/20130511194451/http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmerschemespayments/singlepaymentschemedisadvantagedareasschemebeefdataprogrammebdp/categoriesofdisadvantagedareas/ 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: *[http://www.placenamesni.org/ Northern Ireland Place-Name Project] Searchable using both maps and lists, with information about placename origins *Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland: **[https://apps.spatialni.gov.uk/PRONIApplication/ Mapviewer] (includes layers with current and historical townland borders and names) *Townland indexes to censuses: [https://www.nisra.gov.uk/sites/nisra.gov.uk/files/publications/1937-census-topographical-index.PDF 1926 index]; [https://www.nisra.gov.uk/sites/nisra.gov.uk/files/publications/1937-census-topographical-index.PDF 1937 supplement]
;By county: *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070529125354/http://www.mayolibrary.ie/maps/data/Parishes/index.htm Parishes of County Mayo] (Mayo County Library) list of townlands by parish, with maps and other data *[http://www.kildare.ie/library/townlands/townlands-data-explained.asp Index of Townlands of County Kildare] (Kildare Council Library's local studies department) IreAtlas data updated to 1911
{{Types of administrative country subdivision}}
{{County Cork}}
Category:Townlands in Northern Ireland Category:Townlands of Ireland Category:Townlands of the Republic of Ireland Category:Types of administrative division Category:Historical geography of Ireland