Geography of Derry
- Written by Webmaster
All the known Kilkies living in the early 19th century were born within a few miles of the city of Derry and the county of Londonderry/Derry. An understanding an knowledge of the various names and their meanings will help anyone interested in using Griffiths and other land valuations to help their research (or understanding of someone elses research!).
You will see the following names used as descriptors of areas: County, Barony, Parish, Townland and Poor Law Union.
Counties are the highest level unit of geography and political area in Ireland and have been largely the same since Norman times.The County relevant to our studies is Londonderry, sometimes argued as Derry, which was its original pre-Tudor name.
Barony: This is the next unit down from County. Originally there were a number of different types of Barony, but in the 18th and 19th centuries the only definition that remained was the administrative Barony which was a subdivision of a county used for taxation and other purposes.
The county of Londonderry is divided into 6 Baronys: North West Liberties, Keenaght, North East Liberties, Coleraine, Loughinsholin and Tirkeeran. The Baronies of Tirkeeran and Loughinsholin are the area where Kilkie family members have been located.
The next level of organisation below Barony is the Parish. The map below shows the townlands in all of the 6 Baronies. As you can see the 6 parishes in Tirkeeran are Clondermot, Cumber Lower, Cumber Upper, Learnmount and Faughanvale
Another level down becomes the townland. These areas are a bit more fuzzy than parishes and sometimes a townland will straddle the border of two parishes. Also, sometimes a townland might even be split into two parts, mirroring its historical origins. The townlands in Clondermot that are relevant to Kilkie family are Fincarn, Glenkeen and Lismacarol; These three townlands are side by side.
