† a. OE. tún-land. The land forming a tún or manor. b. In Ireland, A division of land of varying extent; also, a territorial division, a township. c. In Scotland, The enclosed or infield land of a farm.
a. 972. in Earle, Land Charters (1888), 445. Ðis sindon ða lond ʓemæra þæra tun londa ðe into perscoran belimpað.
b. 1658. Petty, in Calr. S. P., Irel. (Advent.), 362. The survey of every particular townland.
1662. Ir. Act 14 & 15 Chas. II., c. 2 (iii). § 3. The … number of acres … in each town-land, village, balybo or quarter of land.
1804. Mar. Edgeworth, Ennui, v. Two or three cabins gathered together were sufficient to constitute a town, and the land adjoining thereto is called a town-land.
1842. S. C. Hall, Ireland, II. 354. The origin of townlands, under the various denominations by which they are known in different parts of the country, is of great antiquity.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 365. Townlands are sometimes attached to one parish for the assessment of the county taxes, while, with respect to tithes and other ecclesiastical contributions, they are considered as forming part of another.
1873. W. K. Sullivan, in O’Curry, Anc. Irish, Introd. 98. The modern townland may be looked upon as the representative of all the parcels of land of whatever denomination from the Baile Biatach down, which had separate designations.
1892. Emily Lawless, Grania, IV. i. 166. Inishmaan possesses but two townlands, containing six quarters each, with sixteen croggeries to every quarter, and sixteen acres to every croggery.
1903. Times, 17 Jan., 8/1. Ballycotsey is a townland in the county Tipperary.
c. 1801. Farmer’s Mag., Nov., 420. The infield, or town-land … looked to be good.
