7/10/14 5:38 PM RootsWeb: IRELAND-L Irish Land Measurements

Page 1 of 3 http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRELAND/2005-03/1111325227
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From: "Henry McFadden" <Annraoi@McFadden.org.uk>
Subject: Irish Land Measurements
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 13:27:13 -0000
In-Reply-To: <007c01c52cd9$fb86d490$6401a8c0@selffor3xonccj>
Right! This is what I've gleaned from various places.
Anyone have any additions, correction etc?
Measurements of land in Ireland were generally quantified by their
production capacity rather than their physical size, so a townland up
a mountain needed to be much bigger than one situated in a fertile
lowland area.
Some land units and measurements you may come across . . .
tuath a petty kingdom, an area under a chieftain, 97 in all of
Ireland
tricha-ct an area supporting 3,000 fighting men, pre-Norman
territories occupied by the native Irish
barony / cantred civil areas divided within county boundaries, 273 in
all of Ireland
ballybetagh - a measure of land, one thirtieth of a barony
carrow / quarter / quarterland four to a ballybetagh (abt. 240
acres)
ballboe / cowland three to a quarterland (about 80 acres)
tate / tathe about three or four to a quarter (about 60-80 acres)
7/10/14 5:38 PM RootsWeb: IRELAND-L Irish Land Measurements
Page 2 of 3 http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRELAND/2005-03/1111325227
sessiagh an Irish unit of spatial measurement, varying 8-20 acres
gnieve an Irish unit of spatial measurement, two to a sessiagh
capell land in Kilkenny equal to a ploughland
in Tipperary about 400 statute acres
ploughland / carucate / villate the amount of land worked by one
plough in a year, abt. 120 acres
cartron in Connacht 30 acres
in Longford 60 acres
collop / colpach the amount of grazing land that would support a
horse, two cows or equivalent.
stint not actually a land measurement but an allowance of grazing
rights on commonage.
For instance one tenant may have a stint of two soum and
another maybe four soum.
soum unit of grazing of mountain commonage equal to a collop
horseman bed in Kilkenny and Waterford equivalent to a cowland
elsewhere equivalent to a capell
townland the smallest civil division of land, over 60,000 in all of
Ireland
great acre 20 statute acres
English / Statute acre amount of land ploughed in a day by a yoke of
oxen
4,840 square yards (0.404 hectares)
Irish acre 7,840 square yards
Scottish / Cunningham acre 6,250 square yards
Cunningham perch six and a quarter yards
Statute perch / square perch 160 to a statute acre, 30" square yards
Rood quarter of a statute acre, 40 square perches
Chain 22 yards
Irish perch seven yards
perch a quarter of a chain, five and a half yards
Slan
Henry
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7/10/14 5:38 PM RootsWeb: IRELAND-L Irish Land Measurements
Page 3 of 3 http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRELAND/2005-03/1111325227
This thread:
Meaning of Bally? by "James Robinson" <jrobinson1@elmore.rr.com>
Re: [IRELAND] Meaning of Bally? by "Anne Duff" <morningside27@optusnet.com.au>
Re: [IRELAND] Meaning of Bally? by "James Robinson" <jrobinson1@elmore.rr.com>
Re: [IRELAND] Meaning of Bally? by "Kerry Kate" <cbcoburn@telus.net>
Re: [IRELAND] Meaning of Bally? by "James Robinson" <jrobinson1@elmore.rr.com>
RE: [IRELAND] Meaning of Bally? by "Henry McFadden" <Annraoi@McFadden.org.uk>
Irish Land Measurements by "Henry McFadden" <Annraoi@McFadden.org.uk>
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