Difference between revisions 120893537 and 120893538 on dewiki

[[Image:Teeshanrd.jpg|thumb|250px|A road-sign in [[County Antrim]], noting 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]]
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The reason for this great variation in size is because townlands were based on the fertility of the land; hence an area of very fertile land will have smaller townlands than an area with little fertile land.<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> It seems that many [[moorland]] areas were not divided into townlands until fairly recently. These areas were "formerly shared as a [[common land|common summer pasturage]] by the people of a whole parish or barony".<ref name="Evans"/>

===Origin of townland system===
The townland system is of [[Gaelic Ireland|Gaelic]] origin—most townlands are believed to pre-date the [[Norman invasion of Ireland|Norman invasion]] (which began in 1169) and most have names that are [[anglicisation|anglicised]] forms of earlier [[Irish language|Irish]] names.<ref name="Barry114"/><ref name="Colfer29"/><ref name="Graham149"/><ref name="Surveying"/><ref name="Canny89"/> However, the names and boundaries of some townlands derive from [[Hiberno-Norman]] [[manor]]s, [[Plantations of Ireland|Plantation]] divisions, or later creations of the [[Ordnance Survey Ireland|Ordnance Survey]].<ref name="Connolly2002p577"/><ref name="Maxwell2009pg16"/>

The first official evidence of their existence can be found in church records from before the 1100s2th century.<ref name="Senses">{{cite book |title=Senses of Place: Senses of Time |last=Reid |first=Bryonie |year=2005 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |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> These documents refer to grants of ''bailte'' (the plural of ''baile'') to monasteries. The term ''baile'' has a variety of related meanings in Irish, such as "home" (the basic meaning), "village" (''sráid-bhaile'', li(contracted; show full)[[Category:Country subdivisions]]
[[Category:Geography of Scotland]]
[[Category:Townlands of Ireland| ]]
[[Category:Townlands of the Republic of Ireland| ]]
[[Category:Geography of the Isle of Man]]
[[Category:Townlands in Northern Ireland| ]]

[[pt:Townland]]