A Province is the earliest and largest administrative division of land in Ireland. In ancient times, Ireland was divided into Provinces, each ruled by a King.

The four Provinces of Ireland now are Ulster, Leinster, Connaught and Munster.

Republic of Ireland - Made up of the Provinces of Leinster, Munster, Connacht & 3 of the Ulster Counties Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan

Northern Ireland - Made up of 6 out of the 9 Counties of Ulster Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone

Provinces of Ireland Wikiwand

Ireland is divided into thirty two counties. Counties are land divisions used as units of local government.

There are thirty two Counties - Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow

The Province of Leinster has twelve Counties - Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow

The Province of Munster has six Counties - Clare, Cork , Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford

The Province of Connaught has five Counties - Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo

The Province of Ulster has nine Counties - Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan, Antrim, Armagh, Derry, Down, Fermanagh and Tyrone

Each County is then divided into Civil Parishes

Counties of Ireland Wikiwand

A Barony is an important county subdivision. Baronies were the administrative districts of counties for the purpose of tax collection, land records and censuses until 1901. There were around 300 Baronies and they were based on clan territories.

Map 1846 Wikimedia

List of Baronies 1899 Wikiwand

Baronies of Ireland Wikiwand

Large and small urban neighbourhoods

There are two types of Parishes. Civil or Ecclesiastical.

Civil - They were originally ecclesiastical divisions now Civil parishes have almost the same name and boundaries as the Church of Ireland parishes. This type of parish boundary was the basis upon which the Griffith’s Valuation and other land and tax records were created and they are seen as the administrative units of the State.

Ecclesiastical - The Ecclesiastical or Church Parish. There are two types of Ecclesiastical parishes, Catholic and Church of Ireland, but these parishes will not correspond to each other.

Each County is divided into Civil Parishes. There are 2508 Civil Parishes in Ireland. They were originally ecclesiastical divisions now Civil parishes have almost the same name and boundaries as the Church of Ireland parishes. Some Civil Parishes cross County boundaries or have changed over time.

Map Irish Ancestors

Civil parishes in Ireland Wikiwand

List of Civil parishes by county Wikiwand

Maps of Civil parishes by county - Antrim, Armagh, Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Derry, Donegal, Down, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary, Tyrone, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, Wicklow

The Church of Ireland was decreed the State Church in Ireland in 1536 by an Act of the Irish Parliament. The parishes of the Church of Ireland served as governmental centers for the administration of matters of probate and matrimonial jurisdiction. FamilySearch Wiki

It has 12 dioceses covering the whole of Ireland including both the Republic and Northern Ireland. Anglicans Online

The Church of Ireland was the State church up to 1869.

• They kept burial registers for the parish.
• Surviving parish registers usually start much earlier than RC parish registers, often in the 1700s, sometimes earlier.
• 63% of all historic records of the Church of Ireland were destroyed in 1922.
• Those parish records that survive are usually held in the local parish or in one of the national cultural institutions. (National Archives of Ireland, Representative Church Body Library, Public Records Office of Northern Ireland)
• The List of Church of Ireland Parish Registers

How to trace your Roots back to the 1830's or earlier. By Fiona Fitzsimons. Eneclann

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church in Ireland. The smallest division in the administration of the Catholic Church is the parish which develop around old monastic centres. Most of these parishes go back to the early 19th century and are situated in villages and towns. A Diocese is divided into deaneries. In the 1830s Catholic parishes and records were re-organised and it’s possible to trace almost all Irish families back to this time.

Irish Church Hierarchy website

Map Irish Ancestors

Maps Catholic Parishes 1848

Roman Catholic Parish Registers

A diocese is comprised of several parishes. These are church administrative areas and define an area comprising several parishes under the control of a bishop.

This is a large ecclesiastical division. There are 22 dioceses which in turn form part of 4 archdioceses. These are similar to the four provinces of Ireland.

Catholic Dioceses - SWilson.Info

The Church of Ireland - Anglicans Online

2 Provinces with 12 Dioceses -

Townlands are the smallest officially recognized geographical unit in rural Ireland. They varying in size from a few acres to several thousand. In general, the better the land, the smaller the townland. Most Irish people living outside towns would have used their townland name as their address in both civil and religious records, and still do.

There are over 62,000 townlands in Ireland and when searching land, property or tax records, the townland will be an important piece of information to know.

Understanding Irish Land Divisions DoChara

Maps Irish Townlands

Townlands Wikiwand

District Electoral Districts (DEDs) consist of a number of townlands. In the late 1830s numbers of DEDs were brought together to form a Poor Law Union.

District Electoral Districts Wikiwand

These were created by the 1839 Poor Law Act, whose primary purpose was to set up an administration for responding to the growing numbers of destitute people in Ireland.

The Act legislated for the collection of a poor law rate or tax from landowners, to be used to set up and finance a workhouse in each district. As a result of the act 163 new administrative divisions – known as Poor Law Unions were created.

163 workhouses were built throughout the country, each at the centre of an area known as a Poor Law Union. The workhouses were normally situated in a large market town, and the Poor Law Union comprised the town and its catchment area, with the result that the Unions in many cases ignored the existing boundaries of parish and county. The workhouse in the town provided relief for the unemployed and destitute.

When a health care system was introduced, the poor law unions were further sub-divided into dispensary districts, to each of which a doctor was appointed.

When birth, marriage and death registration was introduced in 1864, the dispensary districts were used as registration districts with the dispensary doctor acting as registrar, under the supervision of a Superintendent registrar in each Poor Law Union.

Understanding Irish Land Divisions DoChara

1851 Map Irish Ancestors

1897 Map Wikimedia

Irish Poor Law Maps

Poor Law Unions Wikiwand

Poor Law Unions The Workhouse

The PLUs did not follow county boundaries and so registration districts and sub‐districts can lie in two or even three counties. Nor do they respect the boundaries of civil parishes.

Poor Law Unions were subdivided into dispensary districts following the 1851 Medical Charities Act. The Dispensary District was headed by a medical officer paid for by the Poor Rates. There were approximately 798 Dispensary Districts.

For more details www.ireland.com/

On 1st April 1845, civil registration of non-catholic marriages in Ireland began. The ‘Dispensary Districts’ introduced in 1851, which had sub-divided each Poor Law Union into smaller administrative units, were now re-named ‘Registrar’s Districts.

Dispensary Districts became known as Registrar's districts in order to record births, deaths and marriages as a result of the 1863 Acts for the Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Between 1844 and 1863 Registrars’ districts had corresponded to the Poor Law Unions. From 1864 onwards these administrative units were now re-named ‘Superintendent Registrar’s Districts. The medical officer of the dispensary district now assumed the responsibility for civil registration in his catchment area.

How to trace your Roots back to the 1830's or earlier. By Fiona Fitzsimons. Eneclann

History of Registration in Ireland Welfare.ie

1871 Registration districts of Ireland

Registration districts of Ireland ruIRISH

Registration districts map Find My Past

Find My Past

Antrim: Antrim, Ballycastle, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Belfast, Coleraine, Larne, Lisburn, Lurgan.

Armagh: Armagh, Banbridge, Castleblaney, Dundalk, Lurgan, Newry.

Carlow: Baltinglass, Carlow, Enniscorthy, New Ross, Shillelagh.

Cavan: Bailieborough, Bawnboy, Cavan, Cootehill, Enniskillen, Granard, Irvinestown, Kells, Lisnaskea, Oldcastle.

Clare: Ballyvaughan, Corrofin, Ennis, Ennistimon, Killadysert, Kilrush, Scarriff, Tulla, Limerick.

Cork: Bandon, Bantry, Castletown, Clonakilty, Cork, Dunmanway, Fermoy, Kanturk, Kilmallock, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Middletown, Millstreet, Mitchelstown, Skibbereen, Skull, Youghal.

Derry: Ballymoney, Coleraine, Derry (Londonderry), Limavady, Magherafelt, Newtown.

Donegal: Ballyshannon, Derry (Londonderry), Donegal, Dunfanaghy, Glenties, Inishowen, Letterkenny, Milford, Strabane, Stranolar.

Down: Banbridge, Belfast, Downpatrick, Kilkeel, Lisburn, Lurgan, Newry, Newtownards.

Dublin: Balrothery, Celbridge, Dublin North, Dublin South, Dunshaughlin, Rathdown.

Fermanagh: Ballyshannon, Clones, Enniskillen, Irvinestown, Lisnaskea.

Galway: Ballinasloe, Ballinrobe, Clifden, Galway, Glenamaddy, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Oughterard, Portunna, Roscommon, Scarriff, Tuam.

Kerry: Cahirsiveen, Dingle, Glin (dissolved after 1892 and split between Listowel and Rathkeale in co. Limerick), Kenmare, Killarney, Listowel, Tralee.

Kildare: Athy, Baltinglass, Celbridge, Edenderry, Naas.

Kilkenny: Callan, Carrick-on-Suir, Castlecomer, Kilkenny, New Ross, Thomastown, Urlingford, Waterford.

King’s: see Offaly

Laois (Queen’s): Abbeyleix, Athy, Carlow, Donnaghmore (dissolved after 1887 and split between Roscrea and Urlingford), Mountmellick, Roscrea, Urlingford.

Leitrim: Ballyshannon, Bawnboy, Boyle, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlerea, Manor Hamilton, Mohill, Roscommon, Strokestown.

Limerick: Croom, Glin (after 1892 split between Listowel and Rathkeale), Kilmallock, Listowel, Mitchelstown, Newcastle, Rathkeale, Tipperary.

Londonderry: see Derry

Longford: Ballymahon, Granard, Longford.

Louth: Ardee, Drogheda, Dundalk.

Mayo: Ballina, Ballinrobe, Belmullet, Castlebar, Castlereagh, Claremorris, Killala, Newport (included in Westport after 1886), Swineford, Westport.

Meath: Ardee, Celbridge, Drogheda, Dunshaughlin, Edenderry, Kells, Navan, Oldcastle, Trim.

Monaghan: Carrickmacross, Castleblayney, Clogher, Clones, Cootehill, Dundalk, Monaghan.

Offaly (King’s): Edenderry, Mountmellick, Parsonstown (Birr), Roscrea, Tullamore.

Queen’s: see Laois

Roscommon: Athlone, Ballinasloe, Boyle, Carrick-on-Shannon, Castlereagh, Roscommon, Strokestown.

Sligo: Ballina, Boyle, Dromore West, Sligo, Tobercurry.

Tipperary: Borrisokane, Callan, Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Clogheen, Clonmel, Nenagh, Parsonstown, Roscrea, Thurles, Tipperary, Urlingford.

Tyrone: Armagh, Castlederg, Clogher, Cookstown, Dungannon, Enniskillen, Gortin (dissolved after 1899 and split between Omagh and Strabane), Irvinestown, Omagh, Strabane.

Waterford: Carrick-on-Suir, Clonmel, Dungarvan, Kilmacthomas, Lismore, Waterford, Youghal.

Westmeath: Athlone, Ballymahon, Castletown, Delvin, Granard, Mullingar, Tullamore.

Wexford: Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross, Shillelagh, Wexford.

Wicklow: Baltinglass, Naas, Rathdown, Rathdrum, Shillelagh.

Irelands civil registration districts Irish genealogy toolkit

Irelands 162 civil registration districts Find My Past