Difference between revisions 120893540 and 120893541 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 first official evidence of their existence can be found in church records from before the 12th 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'', 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". A townland or ''baile'' was originally the holding of an extended family.<ref name="Graham149"/>

The term ''townland'' is a standardised form, often replacing earlier local terms such as ''tate'' (in [[Fermanagh]] and [[County Monaghan|Monaghan]]), ''cartron'' (in [[Connacht]]) or ''ploughland''. 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 [[Ordnance Survey of Ireland|Irish Ordnance Survey]], summarised the hierarchy as follows:{{fact|date=September 2010}}

<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 - [[Trícha cét|Triocha Céad]] or [[Barony (Ireland)|Barony]].''</blockquote>

A complicating factor was that in Gaelic timesHowever, as noted previously, 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 enormousgreatly 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 [[Plantations of Ireland|plantation]]. 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.⏎
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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. {{fact|date=September 2010}}⏎
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In many areas of Norman settlement, townland boundaries tend to follow [[open field system|field]] or individual property boundaries and may reflect the holdings of monasteries or churches or the boundaries of [[common land|commonage]]. 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.{{fact|date=September 2010}}

===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.
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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.{{fact|date=September 2010}} Townlands were called also '''fermlands''' and many names remain identifiable in farmstead names which include the word ''[[Mains (Scotland)|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.{{fact|date=September 2010}}

See also [[Township (Scotland)]] for the crofting context.

==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.f. the Irish word ''trian'', a third part) in the [[Isle of Man]]. Treens are subdivided into smaller units called '''quarterlands'''[.<ref>http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/parishes/treen.htm].</ref>

==See also==
*  [[:Category:Townlands of Ireland]]
* [[ by county|Lists of townlands in County Kilkenny]]
* [[List of townlands in County MayoIreland by county]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* [http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/territorial_divisions/units_land_measurement.htm Discussion of traditional Gaelic units of land measurement]
* [http://www.ulsterplacenames.org/celebrating_ulster's_townlands_exhibition.htm Celebrating Ulster's Townlands Exhibition (Ulster Placename Society)]
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[[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]]