 Donegal TownlandsThe 32 counties of Ireland are divided and sub-divided into baronies, parishes and townlands. The townland is one of the most ancient divisions in the country, pre-dating parishes and counties. Although their origins remain obscure it is generally held that they were named after people and identifiable landmarks such as rocks or hills etc. Many townlands took their names from early ecclesiastical and secular sites. County Donegal was originally called Tir Chonaill (the country or land of Conall).In County Donegal there are eight baronies, namely, Boylagh, Banagh, Tir Hugh, Raphoe North, Raphoe South, Kilmacrenan, Inishowen East and Inishowen West. The baronies are subdivided into 52 Civil Parishes. These are further subdivided into approximately 2,868 townlands. There are approximately 62,000 townlands in Ireland. Townlands are now the smallest administrative division in the country. Originally they were made up of ploughlands and varied greatly in size according to local topography and farming practices. A civil parish could sometimes have as few as five and as many as thirty townlands. From the 17th century landlords let their land by the townland and this led to the name of the townland being recorded in many documents that related to land such as the rental books of estates, Tithe Applotment Books, Griffith's Valuation Books as well as the Census Returns. This also led to the Anglicisation of the original Gaelic townland names to facilitate the English administration. Using various sources in the course of our research Donegal Ancestry has compiled the following Townlands Index. Click to search the alphabetical Index.
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