Townland

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small district of land traditionally recognized as a unit in Ireland and parts of Scotland, often with its own name and boundaries
2. An informal name for a small rural area in Ireland, historically used as a unit of land division and local identity
3. A subdivision of countryside in Ireland, typically a few hundred acres, whose name and boundaries have long been part of local life

Etymology: Townland is one of Ireland's oldest units of land division, and the word is a plain English compound: "town" and "land" joined together. In this sense "town" does not mean a settlement with streets and shops but a small rural holding or farmstead, the older English meaning of the element that survives in words like "homestead" and "township." The compound was used to name these units of land, and the term became the standard English name for them across much of the island. The source for this entry notes that the word also names an uncommon boundary marker in Inishowen, in County Donegal, where a townland's edges were marked out on the ground. Its ordinary use, though, is simply the territorial unit itself, which is why the word appears so often in Irish place names and in historical records of land ownership.

Synonyms: township, parish, district