Using the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer
What is this resource?
Tailte Eireann (Surveying) has a really nice application called the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer, which will allow you to search for townlands by name and view them on different underlying maps and even compare them with modern aerial photos. This application has gone through a number of versions since it came out and this page applies to the version that will be the only one available from January 2026.
Tailte Eireann (Surveying) has a really nice application called the Irish Townland and Historical Map Viewer, which will allow you to search for townlands by name and view them on different underlying maps and even compare them with modern aerial photos. This application has gone through a number of versions since it came out and this page applies to the version that will be the only one available from January 2026.
(c) Tailte Eireann - Click to enlarge
How do you use this application?
The app is a little bereft of instructions, but here is how I've worked out how to get a nice side by side view of modern satellite images and old maps.
The app is a little bereft of instructions, but here is how I've worked out how to get a nice side by side view of modern satellite images and old maps.
- Firstly, choose your base map by clicking on the round beige icon containing 4 squares in the top right of the screen icon in the top right hand corner of the screen. This will bring up a menu called the Basemap Gallery as shown. Can I recommend you choose the latest aerial photographs as highlighted above? This will help you recognise the modern landscapes that are usually all you can see in the mapping function of most of the software tools we all use for recording our family history.
- You can zoom in using the classic "+" & "-" signs, but one of the best features is that you can search for a place e.g. townland, using the search box top left. Choose a townland that interests you by typing the name in the search box. Pick the relevant one from the drop down list that will appear, bearing in mind that some townland names are very common and can be repeated across 2 or more counties.
- Next, click on the slider icon (the round beige icon to the right of the search box containing back-to-back arrows) and the screen should now have a grey bar bisecting the image.
- Next, click on the stacked squares icon in the top left of the screen to bring up the Layers menu. This will bring up a list of historic layers. Be sure to check the boxes at BOTH levels of the hierarchy for the layer you want as illustrated - it will not work if you just check to lower level box as I found out after many tries! I recommend choosing the Historic 6" First Edition Colour, as illustrated above.
- The map image should now show both styles of maps side by side as illustrated above. Use the small slider box in the centre of the image to compare the old map with the modern one or aerial image. This is brilliant for seeing where farms have long been established versus newer ones that might have appeared in a townland, or for seeing how the growth of towns and villages may have swallowed up previous houses and farms.
Read on...
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2025
