Carving up the Landscape - Genealogical Geography
Eaglehill, Co. Carlow. Photo by Wiggy
Ireland consists of several layers of land divisions, related to each other in ways both byzantine and logical!
Broadly speaking you could say that Ireland has been divided up for 2 main reasons - governing the people ("Civil") and administering to their spiritual needs ("Ecclesiastical"), creating differently shaped layers and hierarchies at different times in its history. Some ancient labels and land divisions have been shared between the 2 hierarchies, whilst others, especially some of the civil layers have had to be invented within the last 150 years to cater for different administrative needs.
Here are the most common land divisions you might expect to find referenced in genealogical sources and how I describe them.
Broadly speaking you could say that Ireland has been divided up for 2 main reasons - governing the people ("Civil") and administering to their spiritual needs ("Ecclesiastical"), creating differently shaped layers and hierarchies at different times in its history. Some ancient labels and land divisions have been shared between the 2 hierarchies, whilst others, especially some of the civil layers have had to be invented within the last 150 years to cater for different administrative needs.
Here are the most common land divisions you might expect to find referenced in genealogical sources and how I describe them.
What are the civil land divisions called?
The following definitions start with the largest and progress to the smallest, with some representing sub-divisions of larger ones.
Province = These represent the 4 ancient "kingdoms" of Ireland, each controlled by specific powerful families who regularly swapped the crown of High King of Ireland between them prior to the Normans arriving in the 12th Century. You are less likely to see Connaught, Ulster, Munster and Leinster as major divisions in genealogical records but they are often used to organise material on-line, so do familiarise yourself with which counties are in which province. See my "Provinces & Counties" page for the list.
County = The Normans decided to impose a bit more administrative rigour and eventually they and their descendants divided up the provinces into 32 counties over the course of the next 300 years, finishing up with Wicklow by 1606. Most have their names steeped in the Irish language and I'm never entirely sure if they were named for their major town (e.g. Cork City, Galway City) or these towns emerged afterwards and were named for their counties! You will generally find a major town or city sharing its name with its county today and this is also where you are most likely to find any County Archives. 3 have had alternative names at various times;
Barony = This one is a bit of an anachronism dating from Tudor times that you will most often find referenced in land transactions. There are 331 of them.
Civil Parish = From a genealogical point of view, the counties were further sub-divided into civil parishes which numbered approximately 2500. These were initially based upon the Church of Ireland ecclesiastical parishes, but as congregations ebbed and grew, the civil parishes eventually became areas in their own right made up of one or more original church parishes. See my "Rules? What Rules?" page for what I've observed about how they match up!
Poor Law Union = The Irish Poor Relief Act of 1838 saw the formation of Poor Law Unions to build and administer Workhouses, usually in the major market towns and emerging cities. When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced, these same Poor Law Unions were conveniently recycled as (Superintendents) Registration Districts. See my "Poor Law Unions / Registration Districts" page for more information.
District Electoral Divisions = These were sub-divisions of the Poor Law Unions, consisting of groups of townlands, and were used to elect their Boards of Guardians. This land division was also used in census geography.
Townland = This is the smallest land division identified for administration purposes and was usually named for local features in the landscape in the Irish language, meaning the same name may crop up many times across the country or even within the same county, miles apart. Many names were later translated into English (not altogether successfully) and there were also local unofficial placenames used. Genealogically speaking, this is probably the most important place to be aware of as you will find it referenced in so many records e.g. land leases, censuses, birth, marriage and death registers etc. See my "Townlands" page for more information.
The following definitions start with the largest and progress to the smallest, with some representing sub-divisions of larger ones.
Province = These represent the 4 ancient "kingdoms" of Ireland, each controlled by specific powerful families who regularly swapped the crown of High King of Ireland between them prior to the Normans arriving in the 12th Century. You are less likely to see Connaught, Ulster, Munster and Leinster as major divisions in genealogical records but they are often used to organise material on-line, so do familiarise yourself with which counties are in which province. See my "Provinces & Counties" page for the list.
County = The Normans decided to impose a bit more administrative rigour and eventually they and their descendants divided up the provinces into 32 counties over the course of the next 300 years, finishing up with Wicklow by 1606. Most have their names steeped in the Irish language and I'm never entirely sure if they were named for their major town (e.g. Cork City, Galway City) or these towns emerged afterwards and were named for their counties! You will generally find a major town or city sharing its name with its county today and this is also where you are most likely to find any County Archives. 3 have had alternative names at various times;
- Co. Offaly was previously known as Queens (County)
- Co. Laois (or Leix) was Kings (County)
- Co. Londonderry and Co. Derry are used interchangeably today for the same northern county of the province of Ulster, which I believe was actually once known as Co. Coleraine.
Barony = This one is a bit of an anachronism dating from Tudor times that you will most often find referenced in land transactions. There are 331 of them.
Civil Parish = From a genealogical point of view, the counties were further sub-divided into civil parishes which numbered approximately 2500. These were initially based upon the Church of Ireland ecclesiastical parishes, but as congregations ebbed and grew, the civil parishes eventually became areas in their own right made up of one or more original church parishes. See my "Rules? What Rules?" page for what I've observed about how they match up!
Poor Law Union = The Irish Poor Relief Act of 1838 saw the formation of Poor Law Unions to build and administer Workhouses, usually in the major market towns and emerging cities. When civil registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced, these same Poor Law Unions were conveniently recycled as (Superintendents) Registration Districts. See my "Poor Law Unions / Registration Districts" page for more information.
District Electoral Divisions = These were sub-divisions of the Poor Law Unions, consisting of groups of townlands, and were used to elect their Boards of Guardians. This land division was also used in census geography.
Townland = This is the smallest land division identified for administration purposes and was usually named for local features in the landscape in the Irish language, meaning the same name may crop up many times across the country or even within the same county, miles apart. Many names were later translated into English (not altogether successfully) and there were also local unofficial placenames used. Genealogically speaking, this is probably the most important place to be aware of as you will find it referenced in so many records e.g. land leases, censuses, birth, marriage and death registers etc. See my "Townlands" page for more information.
What are the ecclesiastical land divisions called?
Ecclesiastical Province = There were also initially 4 of these - Tuam, Armagh, Cashel & Dublin - representing how the Roman Catholic Church divided up their flocks but when the Church of Ireland became the established church in the 17th Century, the same divisions were kept for practical purposes. Of course they did not exactly match the shape of the "Civil" Provinces - that would be far too easy!
Diocese = The ecclesiastical provinces were further subdivided into dioceses and prior to the rise of the civil legal system, they formed the jurisdictions of canon law that kept order, spiritual and financial, for centuries. Wills and marriage bonds / licences were usually lodged at the diocesan level, the latter usually relating to the diocese for the bride's parish. Complex wills with cross-county land holdings worth more than £5 were subject to probate at a higher ecclesiastical court as per the English system - namely the Archbishop's Prerogative Court in Dublin. Today, there has been quite a bit of rationalisation of the ancient dioceses and their attendant parishes, both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland, meaning several that were previously separate have been amalgamated and will appear as such on the modern websites and maps for the respective churches. However, remember contemporary records may well retain the separations - so check dates carefully.
Ecclesiastical Parish = This was usually centred on a church as the focal point for worship for the populations of surrounding townlands where the key life events took place and were recorded - "hatchings, matchings and despatchings"! Very large parishes may have had additional churches or "chapels of ease" meaning that far flung members of the congregation didn't have to spend all day Sunday walking to and from church, so be aware that these may sometimes have separate parish registers. As the respective congregations in adjoining parishes shrunk, these may have been rationalised and new bigger parishes created - again check dates carefully. Be especially alert to parishes with double-barrelled names or 2 names connected with "and" as older records may exist in separate registers.
Ecclesiastical Province = There were also initially 4 of these - Tuam, Armagh, Cashel & Dublin - representing how the Roman Catholic Church divided up their flocks but when the Church of Ireland became the established church in the 17th Century, the same divisions were kept for practical purposes. Of course they did not exactly match the shape of the "Civil" Provinces - that would be far too easy!
Diocese = The ecclesiastical provinces were further subdivided into dioceses and prior to the rise of the civil legal system, they formed the jurisdictions of canon law that kept order, spiritual and financial, for centuries. Wills and marriage bonds / licences were usually lodged at the diocesan level, the latter usually relating to the diocese for the bride's parish. Complex wills with cross-county land holdings worth more than £5 were subject to probate at a higher ecclesiastical court as per the English system - namely the Archbishop's Prerogative Court in Dublin. Today, there has been quite a bit of rationalisation of the ancient dioceses and their attendant parishes, both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland, meaning several that were previously separate have been amalgamated and will appear as such on the modern websites and maps for the respective churches. However, remember contemporary records may well retain the separations - so check dates carefully.
Ecclesiastical Parish = This was usually centred on a church as the focal point for worship for the populations of surrounding townlands where the key life events took place and were recorded - "hatchings, matchings and despatchings"! Very large parishes may have had additional churches or "chapels of ease" meaning that far flung members of the congregation didn't have to spend all day Sunday walking to and from church, so be aware that these may sometimes have separate parish registers. As the respective congregations in adjoining parishes shrunk, these may have been rationalised and new bigger parishes created - again check dates carefully. Be especially alert to parishes with double-barrelled names or 2 names connected with "and" as older records may exist in separate registers.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2020
