Current use Townland

a typical road-sign in county tyrone, noting part of road passes through townland of cavanreagh

townlands form building blocks higher-level administrative units such parishes , district electoral divisions (in republic of ireland) or wards (in northern ireland).

before 1972 townlands included on rural postal addresses throughout island, in year royal mail decided townland element of address obsolete in northern ireland. townland names not banned, deemed superfluous information , people asked not include them on addresses. replaced house numbers, road names , postcodes. in response townlands campaign emerged protest against changes. described ground-level community effort . taking place in midst of troubles, campaign rare example of unity between catholics , protestants, nationalists , unionists. townlands , names seem have been considered shared resource , heritage . involved in campaign argued that, in many areas, people still identified townlands , gave them sense of belonging. royal mail s changes seen severing of link.

at time county councils government bodies responsible validating change. however, local government undergoing changes, royal mail s decision allowed ... become law default . county fermanagh county in northern ireland managed resist change completely. nevertheless, many newer road signs in parts of northern ireland show townland names (see picture). in 2001 northern ireland assembly passed motion requesting government departments make use of townland addresses in correspondence , publications.

in republic of ireland townlands continue used on addresses. in 2005 department of communications, energy , natural resources announced postcode system introduced (see republic of ireland postal addresses). system, known eircode, introduced in 2014, of 2016 still not used , townlands remain predominant address identifiers in rural areas.