townlands

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John J. Tierney on August 2, 2010 at 4:59am

This site has a good breakdown of the Irish land divisions:

http://www.ballybegvillage.com/land_division.html

Permalink Reply by Nora Galvin on August 2, 2010 at 7:06am

Here is the wikipedia definition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townland
I tend to think of them as neighborhoods, though that does not entirely define them.

Nora

Permalink Reply by Katie Heitert Wilkinson on August 2, 2010 at 7:12am

The closest American equivalent of which I can think is to compare a townland to a suburban subdivision. For instance, someone might live in Missouri, in St. Louis City County, in St. Louis City and in the St. Louis Hills neighborhood or subdivision.

Permalink Reply by Judith Hayman on August 9, 2011 at 11:23am

Townland has to be one of the toughest ideas to get used to.

 

I'm agreeing with the subdivision/neighbourhood idea.  Certainly in my city my neighbourhood has a formal name (not often used by locals, but still), which is used mostly by the planning department.  The boundaries are based on surveys done many decades ago.  It's not an administrative division, but it is a land division. 

 

Sounds like a townland to me!

 

 

Permalink Reply by Angela Norton on September 24, 2011 at 8:18am

A Townland is just an area of land that has a name. The area could be smaller than 5 acres of larger than 5000 acres. There are townlands now in Ireland where no one lives and other townlands that are fully populated. I think if you try and compare with areas in a town or city in USA, it would be very difficult because usually there would be signposts. In Ireland many townlands have no signposts anywhere. The post office knows where they are and the local people know but local people often spell them differently. I lived in one that had at least 3 different spellings. A good site to find lists of the townlands with the size and Civil Parish is:

http://www.seanruad.com/

Permalink Reply by Judith Hayman on September 24, 2011 at 10:38pm

I think the idea that a townland is small and unsigned, is what made us use the North American idea of a subdivision.  Also, fairly small, usually not signed, and known only to the planning department and the people who live there.  Subdivisions can also be populated or not.  The important thing is wrapping one's head around the idea that the townland exists, but is not a division of government in any way.  A neighbourhood is the closest concept.  Not equivalent, but enough to get the idea.  The other somewhat comparable concept might be a polling division or ward. 

Permalink Reply by Ruby Sawyer-DeCaire on September 26, 2011 at 3:03pm

That sounds similar to what we have here in Muskoka District, Ontario, Canada. A lot of the rural areas have names such as Harper's Corner. There are no sign posts that say "welcome to", just a few houses spread out along the road. Unless you are a local whos family has lived in the area for generations, you do not know when you have enter Harper's Corner or when you leave. I just call them villages or hamlet but neighbours would be a better description, because if you ask someone who lives there where they live. The answer will more than likely be "I live on such and such road" because the area is more know by the name of the road you live on.