"Into our townlan' on a night of snow, / Came a man From God Knows Where" . . . The townland has been with us as a geographical unit, for a long time. Here is a series of names of townlands from a part of the North: Ballylumford, Ballydown, Carnspindle, Ballytober, Kilcoan Mor, Kilcoan Beg, Ballypriorbeg, Dundressan, Drumgurland, Balloo. The first one will have stirred memories. Ballylumford (often pronounced locally as Blumford) was the name of the generating station on Larne Lough, which in the hands of anti-power sharing workers, brought down the first brave attempt at settling the problem of the divided communities.
The names are all of townlands on the peninsula of Islandmagee, which forms the eastern border of Larne Lough. Remarkable, that they didn't call the station by the name of the Lough nor even of Larne - but by the name of the townland. Interesting the name of the last in the list, Balloo, presumably the reference is to the god Lugh. There is another in north County Down, which has a good restaurant, a favourite place for some of the people around Terence O'Neill, including Jim Malley.
From the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen's University in Belfast comes a volume Doing Irish Local History, which includes an article "The Study of Townlands in Ulster" by W. H. Crawford, who tells us that the history of these units may be more complex than we have reckoned, and it may differ from region to region throughout the whole country. For instance, did the townland under review exist as an independent entity at the time of the Plantation? If it did not, then "we need to search for the first mention of it in estate documents, such as patents and leases, and then in the Down Survey of the mid1650s, and the hearthmoney and poll tax returns of the 1660s." He has other suggestions but concludes that the heyday has gone. "Over the past century and a half, the population of many townlands has been decimated and rural community life continues to decline with the advance of commercial agriculture. Soon it may be too late to research their history." Doing Irish Local History, Pursuit and Practice, eight essays, £8.50 stg. What goes in the North may not go here. Townlands in various parts of this State seem to be a lively part of the scene and the geography. Y