On Finding Townlands
In response to my question about the usefulness of the Topographical Index of the Parishes and Townlands of Ireland in Sir William Petty's Manuscript Maps (available through the FHL in Salt Lake City and Family History Centers), Dr. Muhr considers it worth a try because this resource will alert researchers to types of possible spelling variations. Some other recommended sources are Seamus Pender's A Census of Ireland circa 1659 (Dublin, 1939), which is based on hearth tax records, and the Patent Rolls and Inquisitions.

Patent Rolls are the registered copies of Letters Patent issued by the Court of Chancery. They recorded a broad range of grants—for land, offices, privileges, licenses, wardships, and so on. They have been described in a series of "calendars" or descriptive finding aids (listed in M. Falley, Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1998, Vol. II, 254-55).

Inquisitions were of two types: "Post Mortem" and "on Attainder." The former were drawn up when a tenant of the Crown died (these cease during the 1660s), and the latter when the lands of anyone attainted (i.e., declared an outlaw or traitor by an Act of Attainder) were transferred to the Crown (these cease by 1700). These records give evidence of the descent of families and describe property and its transfer. Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, Volume I (M. Falley, 1998) can give additional information on Inquisitions and Patent Rolls.

Only the Inquisitions (Post Mortem) are indexed (by county) for both place and personal names. The text of the entries presents a challenge—it is in Latin, including some very hard-to-follow abbreviations.

To a certain extent, the 17th-century records show us the native Irish system of landholding, only partly modified by the English administration. However, the early 19th-century mapping of Ireland by the Ordnance Survey was concerned with making a workable system, with the English-language term "townland" replacing all the variable local units, such as poles, horsemens' beds, tates, and ballyboes.

Some land divisions, which local people may think are official townlands, never made it into the Ordnance Survey list. Dr. Muhr pointed out that, in the past, most townlands had at least three subdivisions making up the name that dominated unvaried through time. By way of example, she mentioned two: (1) Derryhenny, parish of Lettermacaward (once part of Templecrone), in Donegal and (2) Gortnagarn, parish of Cappagh, in Tyrone. Neither is in any published or Web-based official list of townlands. An index of these names, with their locations, would be a very helpful finding aid.

If you have not looked at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland lately and are tracking down a place name, be sure to revisit the Web site. Here you can explore place names of the six counties of Northern Ireland in several categories, including townlands. These can be examined in alphabetical lists according to county, parish, or major estates. There are some excellent maps as well.

Contribute to the Database
Perhaps you have among family papers some old documents or letters that mention impossible-to-find place names. If this is the case, Dr. Muhr would be interested in knowing about it. It is possible she may be able to help locate unidentified places; and you would be helping to build the Ulster Place-Name Society database. Because of limited personnel and resources, any general inquiries that do not involve a contribution to the database will only be checked when a fee is paid. The e-mail address is townlands@qub.ac.uk.

Townlands and Modern Addresses
Those of us in search of ancient place names and ancestors may be unaware of the fact that townland names are disappearing from general usage in Northern Ireland. Contributing significantly to this trend has been the modernization of the postal address system in the UK. In Northern Ireland, the changes have involved assigning names and numbers to country roads. Many of the roads have been given the name of one of the townlands along the route, which may at first sound positive, but it can cause confusion and suppress the names of other townlands.

Where road names have been adopted, the name of the townland has ceased to be part of the official address. In fact, townland names are not used by the post office and are not in its database. So while locals may continue using townland names, to the post office, they may convey nothing.

Does this road name adoption matter? Very definitely, for two reasons: (1) Post office personnel may be able to find rural addresses, but others have difficulty; (2) Very important aspects of local identity and cultural heritage are lost when townland names are no longer used.

The Ulster Place-Name Society first warned of the renaming dangers more than 20 years ago. They see the creation of a new Northern Ireland government and the new millennium as an opportune time to restore townlands as an element of rural addresses. One way of doing this is to match each townland name to a postal code.

The Ulster Place-Name Society is seeking assistance from people everywhere, especially genealogists. Perhaps you have a story about address confusion connected with your search for ancestors and living relatives. Perhaps you personally, or an organization you are connected with, want to support the retention of ancient place names.

To lend your support, please send a letter to:

Dr. Kay Muhr/The Ulster Place-Name Society
c/o Celtic Studies, School of Modern Languages
Queen's University Belfast
BELFAST BT7 1NN
Northern Ireland, UK
Phone: 044 2890 273689
Fax: 044 2890 335298

Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services in 1988, and she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Suggestions for future British genealogy articles can be sent to Sherry Irvine at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com. Sherry will not be able to send personal replies, but she will feature some questions in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. She also regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is the author of Your Scottish Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans and Your English Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans.