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Place types and land allocation in Ireland Researchers of Irish history and family genealogy will often encounter unknown words referring to historic place types. Often, these terms will desribe a division of land, for land was the measure of economic and political power in Ireland. Here are a few definitions: Acre - An Irish acre, the measure used from the 17th century, equalled 1.62 statute (English) acres. Also called a plantation acre. Balliboe - A spatial measured used in Tyrone, equalling about 80 acres. Similar to the tate in Fermanagh and Monaghan. Bally - The many towns beginning with Bally derive from the Irish baile, meaning homeplace or townland. Ballybetagh - a land measurement comprising four quarters and totalling about 1,000 Irish acres. Barony - A division similar to the hundred in England. Also known as a cantred. Baronies later became administrative units of Irish counties. Borough - A town granted corporation status through royal charter. Boroughs elected MPs to sit in an Irish house of commons. A citizen of a borough was called a burgess. Cantred - See barony. Cartron - A land measurement, equal to about 30 acres in Connacht and 60 acres in Longford. Carucate - The amount of land a that an eight-oxen team could plough in a year, usually about 100 to 120 acres. Also known as a ploughland or villate. Collop - A division of land in the 18th and early 19th centuries, considered capable of supporting a family. The measurement was based on the amount of land necessary for a mature animal to graze. In northern Ireland, this measure was known in northern Ireland as a sum. County - County divisions were imposed on Ireland by the English from the 13th to 17th centuries. Counties were formed by combining baronies. County borough - Towns or cities, along with small surrounding areas, created by medieval charters. There were eight county boroughs: Carrickfergus, Cork, Drogheda, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford. Great acre - A measure equal to about 20 English acres. Liberty - A civil unit, with authority granted by the crown. Manor borough - A small town absorbed by a manor. The six manor boroughs in Ireland were Athboy, Doneraile, Granard, Mallow, Mullingar and Ratoath. Pale - The English pale in Ireland encompassed the counties Dublin, Kildare, Louth and Meath. Palitanate - Area overseen by a lord who was granted extensive rights by the crown. The palatinate of Tipperary existed until 1715. Parish - An ecclesiastical division overseen by a priest. Parishes listed on ePodunk are ecclesiastical parishes, For more info, see our parishes page. Ploughland - See carucate. Poll - A measure of land, equalling about 50 to 60 acres. Poor law union - An administrative unit created when the English Poor Law Act of 1834 was extended to Ireland in 1838. It usually encompassed a market town and surrounding area, in which taxpayers were assessed for the poor law rate. Rundale - A system in which land was held in common and divided among tenant-farmers. Also known as runrig. Tate (or tathe) - A land measure, used in Fermanagh and Monaghan, equalling about 60 Irish acres. Similar to the balliboe in Tyrone. Towne - A land measure used in counties Antrim, Carlow and Offaly, equalling about 20 great acres. Townland - A division of a county. Townlands were listed in the Townland Index, which was published in 1851, 1871 and 1901. Townreed - Township. Villate - See carucate. SOURCES: Brewer's Britain & Ireland, John Ayto and Ian Crofton Byrne's Dictionary of Irish Local History, Joseph Byrne New Dictionary of Irish History from 1800, D.J. Hickey & J.E. Doherty A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland, Brian Mitchell