Genealogy Chat

Townlands existed long before the parishes and counties. The original Irish names were eventually written down in anglicised form as they sounded to English court scribes. It is possible to trace how they became increasingly anglised in the General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes and Baronies of Ireland and in the Ordnance Survey maps. A townland name in its original Irish form often referred to an easily identifiable feature of the landscape such as Carraig (meaning rock) or Tullagh (meaning a hill) or a botanical feature such as Annagh (meaning marsh). The social customs or history of the people who have lived in a particular place can also be reflected in the name of the townland. Often these names are the only records which survive of the families who held the land in pre-plantation times. Bally or Baile (both meaning settlement) are usually compounded with personal or family names and examples can be found all over Ireland, including such names as Ballywalter, Ballyrussel and Ballysavage. Many townlands throughout Ireland took their names from early habitation sites, both ecclesiastical and secular. Examples in this category include names with Rath (meaning fortification), Dun (meaning fort) or Chill (meaning church) in them.

Silly question, but what the heck is a townland?

have emailed you jeanette, see what you think! many thanks Tracey

you can't put it on line I will send you my email and I will have look if you like Jeanette

Hi Tracey, I had one where i couldnt quite make the writting out, but when i did it was not the correct spelling of the place anyway. It turns out the place was written as it sounded... bearing in mind different accents when the numerator is writing it down. e.g mine was Churtery........... turned out it was Shottery, but saying it with an accent makes a difference. Good Luck Tracey

You could either try and put what the parish name looks like to you on the board and we'll try to figuer it out OR if you have a scanned image you can put it online so others can have a look and let you know what they think it is. There was a tread her the other day about doing that, I'll have a look for it and bump it up. I would be happy to take a look for you to see what it says.

I have a copy of a certificate and cannot read the townland/parish on it, I have tried a basic search of townlands and parishes and am completely stuck!! nothing looks like it at all, any ideas ?