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Townland

The smallest Irish administrative division, the townland, is the one which has proved most enduring.

Loosely related to the ancient Gaelic "Bally betagh", and to other medieval land divisions such as ploughlands and quarters, townlands can vary enormously in size, from a single acre or less to several thousand acres. There are more than 64,000 in the country. They were used as the smallest geographical unit in both Tithe Survey and Griffith's, as well as census returns, and are still in use today. Anything from 5 to 30 townlands may be grouped together to form a civil parish. Many townlands share the same name - for example there are 56 Kilmores and 47 Dromores.

The full 1851 Townlands Index is searchable in our Placenames section