Townland

A townland (Irish: baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: toonlann[1]) is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering 100–500 acres (40–202 ha).

[9] The total number recognised by the Irish Place Names database as of 2014 was 61,098, including uninhabited townlands, mainly small islands.

[14] 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.

[15] Throughout most of Ulster, townlands were known as "ballyboes" (Irish: baile bó, meaning "cow land"),[16][17] and represented an area of pastoral economic value.

[16] 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] In modern townland names the prefix pol- is widely found throughout western Ireland, its accepted meaning being "hole" or "hollow".

[19] Other units of land division used throughout Ireland include: "Cartrons" were also sometimes called "ploughlands" or "seisreagh" (Irish: seisreach, meaning a team of horses yoked to a plough).

[14] 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.

[20] "Sub-townlands" (Irish: fo-bhaile) are also recorded in some areas, smaller divisions of a townland with their own traditional names.

However, this was misleading, as the size of townlands under the Gaelic system varied depending upon their quality, situation and economic potential.

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.

[32] During the 19th century an extensive series of maps of Ireland was created by the Irish division of the Ordnance Survey for taxation purposes.

[12] 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.

In 2001 the Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion requesting government departments to make use of townland addresses in correspondence and publications.

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.