How do I find the parish, poor law union and district electoral division for a townland?
Start at logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland. A townland entry sets out its hierarchy, county, barony and civil parish, with links to each level and to the electoral division, and it gives the Irish form and earlier spellings, which helps with older documents. For the poor law union, check the census paperwork for that townland: the enumerator's abstract behind the 1901 and 1911 returns names the union and the district electoral division together. Work in that order, townland first and divisions after, and write all four down. Record sets are filed under different divisions, so the full set is what makes a search repeatable.
Useful pages: The Irish surnames map · Trace your Irish roots · The 1926 Census guide · Coming home · Irish around the world · Plan your journey
Sources
- Placenames Database of Ireland: townland, parish and barony records, logainm.ie
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