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From: "Lindel" <>
Subject: [DONEGAL] Definitions of those pesky land divisions
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2000 22:32:23 +1300


While looking for something else, I stumbled across this, which explains
things quite nicely -

COUNTY.The County is the principal unit of local Government. There are 26
counties in the Republic of Ireland and 6 counties in Northern Ireland.Most
document collections are organised on a county basis.

BARONY.A Barony is an important county subdivision. It is thought to be a
Norman division although it's precise origin is unknown. There are generally
between seven and ten baronies per county although Cork has twenty and Louth
has only four. A barony can occupy parts of two counties in which case it is
referred to as half a barony. There are 331 baronies in Ireland.

CIVIL PARISH.There are 2508 Civil Parishes in Ireland. They were originally
ecclesiastical divisions and they often break both county and barony,
boundaries. They became important civil divisions in their own right.

TOWNLAND:There are 60,462 Townlands in Ireland. It is the smallest
administrative division and on average covers about 350 acres. Many
Townlands share the same name - for example there are 56 Kilmores and 47
Dromores.

POOR LAW UNION. The Poor Law Act of 1838 introduced another administrative
division - The Poor Law Union. Initially there were 130 and eventually 163
Poor Law Unions. Between 1838 and 1852, 163 workhouses were built throughout
the country, each at the centre of an area known as a Poor Law Union. The
workhouses were normally situated in a large market town, and the Poor Law
Union comprised the town and its catchment area, with the result that the
Unions in many cases ignored the existing boundaries of parish and county.
The workhouse in the town provided relief for the unemployed and destitute,
generally under very harsh conditions. Records were kept of the inmates and
these can provide useful research material.

DISPENSARY DISTRICT Poor Law Unions were subdivided into dispensary
districts following the 1851 Medical Charities Act.

SUPERINTENDENT REGISTRAR'S DISTRICT. Poor Law Unions became known as
Superintendent Registrar's districts in order to record births, marriages
and deaths as a result of the 1863 Acts for the Registration of Births,
Deaths and Marriages.

REGISTRAR'S DISTRICT. Dispensary Districts became known as Registrar's
districts in order to record births, deaths and marriages as a result of the
1863 Acts for the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

DIOCESE. This is a large ecclesiastical division. There are 22 dioceses
which in turn form part of 4 archdioceses. These are similar to the four
provinces of Ireland.

PARISH. A diocese is subdivided into parishes. Parishes are usually composed
of the aforementioned civil parishes. However, modern Catholic parishes do
not follow this general rule.

There's more on the subject, which covers all of Ireland, but the page is a
cached copy I accessed from google.com - I kept om running into dead links
when I tried to get the real page............worth a look though -
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.irishgenealogy.com/IrishResearch.ht
m+Donegal+map&hl=en
Lindel
Kaikoura, NZ
VENI, VIDI, VELCRO.....I came, I saw, I stuck around

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