Ancestors found in Irish census records, land records and church records, not to mention birth, marriage and death records, usually have mention of some civil district. Tracing an Irish family tree will produce inevitable questions: Just what is a townland? And more importantly: Is a civil parish boundary the same as a church parish boundary with the same name?
Understanding Irish Townlands
The Irish townland was the smallest geographic division in Ireland, and even today the townland is part of a rural postal address in Ireland. It was generally the identity of a community, and could vary greatly in size – anywhere from less than an acre to more than a thousand acres. When a townland is listed in a genealogical record, it can help pinpoint the location of an Irish family.
Differences Between a Civil Parish, Catholic Parish and Church of Ireland Parish
For civil purposes (record-keeping, taxation, etc.), five to thirty townlands were grouped together into civil parishes. From the 1500s onward, the Church of Ireland/Church of England was the established church, and these parish boundaries largely coincide with the civil parish boundaries. Therefore, a Church of Ireland baptismal record can lead to records in a civil parish of the same name.
Catholic parish boundaries are different, however. With the creation of a protestant state church, along with the penal laws imposed on Catholics, Catholic parishes generally grew in size to allow a larger area to be covered by fewer clergy. When Catholics were fully emancipated and as the population grew, parishes were sometimes subdivided. Because of this, not only are Catholic parish boundaries rarely the same as civil parishes in the same area, but genealogists will need to determine the parish boundaries at a particular time to locate the pertinent records.
Baronies and Counties in Ireland
Civil parishes were grouped together into Baronies, and counties were formed by the grouping of a number of baronies, ranging from five in County Leitrim to twenty-two in County Cork.
From smallest to largest, an ancestor’s location would be listed by townland, civil parish, barony, and county. Today, however, civil parishes and baronies are not used for administration purposes; counties and cities are the main civil jurisdictions.
Irish District Electoral Divisions and Poor Law Unions
In 1838, 130 Poor Law Unions were created for administration of relief for the poor. Townlands were grouped into District Electoral Divisions (DEDs), from which guardians for the union and workhouse were elected. Several DEDs made up each Poor Law Union. Each union had its own workhouse and kept its own records.
Using Irish Townland, Parish, Poor Law Union, Barony and County Names
- Griffith’s Valuation: organized by county, then barony, poor law union, civil parish, and townland. Online indexes can often be searched by parish or townland.
- Tithe Applotment Books: organized by civil parish, then townland.
- 1901 and 1911 Irish Census: organized by county and District Electoral Division. Searchable online by county, townland, and DED.
- Poor Law Records: organized by Poor Law Union name within each county.
- Church of Ireland Parish Registers: held by local parishes, the National Archives, the Church of Ireland and/or PRONI.
- Roman Catholic Parish Records: Researchers need to use the Townland Indexes to determine the civil parish, and then determine the corresponding Roman Catholic parish by using a reference such as Guide to Irish Parish Records by Brian Mitchell (2009). Once identified, the parish records can be found in local parishes and/or the National Archives.
Jennifer Jensen - Jennifer Jensen is an Indiana writer just returned from a lovely few years in County Cork, Ireland. She has been the Feature Writer for ...
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