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Place Names

I do not propose to make this a definitive list of all place names in the area, simply an index with notes to those which occur in the papers and documents on site. For other listings of Townlands and other social divisions I suggest a Google search.

Note also that the following pages on this site have much information on old place names:

• Garvagh Church Visitation lists
• Bann Valley Church records index

Irish place names are horribly confusing: in the first place, many of them are very similar. Then - they have evolved over the years. Add to that the fact that there were, in the early days, no written names, they were all verbal. When they were written down, the scribe would write then as he heard them - but they were pronounced in a thick Irish brogue! All of this gives scope for much confusion.

Another feature of the area is that certain names occur in many different places, so the townland of Tamlaght is nowhere near the town of Tamlaght and has nothing to do with the parish of Tamlaght O'Crilly. All very confusing, but hopefully this page will help others!

Many of the old townland names have been lost. Sometimes a village now exists within the old townland area and these villages often do not nowadays retain the original name but are named after a farm or other feature. Where this occurs, the modern name is radically different from the old name. Of course, often the modern name is derived from the townland name and the two columns will be identical. But sometimes (usually?) there are various spellings, so there will be several lines with the same modern name. Sometimes Townland names have been completely lost.

This list is going to grow as I and others work on it: it's therefore always in a state of growth. It's easy to add place names to this list but not so easy to track down exactly where they were or what the modern name is, so if you have bits to add, or corrections to make, please contact me as I would welcome assistance.

Key to comments

NOMM

Many of these old townland names have been lost as the population moved from the land and towns grew in size, so many of the places mentioned are not shown on modern maps.

TLD

Originally the population lived 'on the land', rather than in villages, and the country was divided into areas of land called 'Townlands' - each of which had its own name. These are the names of Townlands. Townlands do not exist today, if you believe the modern maps. However locally their use is still common. But as they were in general, agricultural areas, many of them are nowadays totally unpopulated, so the use of these names has atrophied.

IM1613

This is the name as shown on a map of the Ironmonger's estate dated 1613.

Parish

Where comments show 'Parish' the modern name shows the church's whereabouts, and the map ref is that of the church. These entries are emboldened.

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