Ireland, 1851 Alphabetical Index of Townlands and Towns, including County, Barony, Parish, Poor Law Union

By Her Majesty's Stationary Office, Dublin, 1851

This tome provides cross referenced indexes that are essential for those researching genealogical and historical records from Ireland. The 3 indexes define the relationship between specific townlands, and the parishes, baronies, Poor Law Union, and counties that they were part of. Different categories of records were recorded by different jurisdictions so researchers need to know all of the related jurisdictions in order to locate all the available records.   Also included are Ordnance Survey (OS) map references and 1851 Census references. 

Contents include

Index to the Townlands and Towns of Ireland.  61,000+ entries include:

• Townland or Town (listed alphabetically)
• Area of Townland in acres
• County the Townland is located in
• Barony the Townland is located in
• Parish the Townland is located in
• Poor Law Union (in 1857) is located in
• Map (sheet) number of the Ordnance Survey map that includes the Townland
• 1851 Census Vol. and Page number where the residents of the Townland appear
• Example Townlands page

Index to the Parishes of Ireland. Each entry includes: 

• Parish (listed alphabetically)
• Area of Parish in statute measure
• County the Parish is located in
• Barony/s the Parish is located in
• Poor Law Union/s (in 1857)the Parish is located in
• Map/s (sheet) number of the Ordnance Survey map that includes the Parish
• 1851 Census Vol. and Page numbers where the residents of the Parish appear
• Example Parishes page

Index to the Baronies of Ireland. Each entry includes: 

• Baronies (listed alphabetically)
• Area of Barony in statute measure
• County the Barony is located in
• Poor Law Union/s (in 1857) the Barony is located in
• Map/s (sheet) number of the Ordnance Survey map that includes the Parish
• 1851 Census Vol. and Page numbers where the residents of the Barony appear
• Example Baronies page

Why are Townlands important in Irish research?
An Irish townland is generally the smallest administrative division of land -- the average size being about 300 acres with some as small as 1/3 of an acre. The first official evidence of the existence of this old Gaelic system of land division can be found in church records from the 11th century. Centuries of defining an Irish person's nativity by their townland resulted in the concept of 'townland' being deeply ingrained in the Irish sense of place. That helps explain why Irish emigrants often gave the name of their Irish townland when reporting their place of birth, or Irish residence for administrative records in the place that they emigrated to. 

Townlands are still used in postal addresses in the Republic of Ireland, rather than postal codes. Northern Ireland legislated the removal of townland names from postal addresses in 1972 resulting in significant protest from a majority of its citizens.

Regarding the book's title:
This book was originally published by Her Majesty's Stationary Office, Dublin, in 1861 under the lengthy title of: Census of Ireland. General Alphabetical Index to the Townlands and Towns, Parishes, and Baronies of Ireland, Showing the Number of the Sheet of the Ordnance Survey Maps in Which They Appear: The Areas of the Townlands, Parishes and Baronies: and The Volume and Page of the Townland Census of 1851, which contains the Population and Number of Houses in 1841 and 1851, and the Poor law Valuations of 1851.

This edition was published by Global Heritage Press in 2015 under the abbreviated title of: Ireland, An Alphabetical Index of Townlands and Towns, including the County, Barony, Parish, and Poor Law Union in which they are situated, 1851

Details:
982 Pages [blank pages have been removed from the digital file]
Searchable [.pdf Adobe Acrobat]
Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationary Office, Dublin, 1861
This edition published by Global Heritage Press, Milton 2015
ISBN 978-1-772240-009-0 (digital edition)