A
townland is a small geographical division of land used in Ireland. The townland system is of
Gaelic origin, pre-dating the
Norman invasion, and most have names of
Irish Gaelic origin. However, some townland names and boundaries come from
Norman manors,
plantation divisions, or later creations of the
Ordnance Survey. The total number of inhabited townlands was 60,679 in 1911. The total number recognised by the Irish Place Names database is 61,098, including uninhabited townlands, mainly small islands, as of 2014.