A townland (Irish: baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: toonlann[1]) is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering 100–500 acres (40–202 ha).[2] The townland system is of Gaelic origin, antedating the Norman invasion,[3][4][5][6] and most have names of Irish origin.[4] However, some townland names and boundaries come from Norman manors, plantation divisions, or later creations of the Ordnance Survey.[7][8] The total number of inhabited townlands in Ireland was 60,679 in 1911.[9] The total number recognised by the Irish Place Names database as of 2014 was 61,098, including uninhabited townlands, mainly small islands.[10]
She argued that Ireland's townland system, which pre-dated the Anglo-Norman conquest, worked against the creation of sizeable nucleated settlements.
The townland network provides the most pervasive landscape survival from the Gaelic era. Most townlands, many retaining their Gaelic names, are believed to pre-date the arrival of the Anglo-Normans.
The manor was the basic unit of settlement throughout the Anglo-Norman colony. Anngret Simms and others have argued that the constraint of the pre-existing Gaelic-Irish network of townlands (the basic subdivision of land in Ireland, a townland was originally the holding of an extended family) pre-empted the formation of large villages on the Anglo-Norman manors of Ireland.
It is clear that the Gaelic townland system of territorial organisation exerted a powerful centripetal force on the evolving settlement pattern.
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