Using Arcgis to Map Where John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) Grew up in County Sligo

December 6, 2016

Although we haven’t found any trace of John F. Armstrong (1845-1893) before he left Ireland in 1865, we have located his father’s leased farmlands in County Sligo in Griffith’s Valuation.

Griffith’s Valuation, or the Primary Valuation, was a government survey of land holdings undertaken between 1847 and 1864 to assess their value for tax purposes.

Properties in County Sligo were assessed in 1856 and 1857. JF would have turned twelve in September of 1857.

The Historical Irish Civil Land Divisions Where JF Grew Up

To get a better understanding of where JF spent his childhood, we decided to map the historical civil land divisions where his father, Francis Armstrong, held leases.

Historical civil land divisions in Ireland aren’t hard to understand once you learn the hierarchy and how they break down. In administrative terms, from large to small, they are: a) province, b) county, c) barony, d) civil parish, e) poor law union, f) district electoral division, g) townland or village/town.

JF grew up in the Province of Connacht (Connaught) in County Sligo in the Barony of Leyny in the Civil Parish of Anchonry in the Poor Law Union of Tobercurry in the Electoral Division of Cloonacool in the Townlands of Kilcummin and Derreens.

Each of these divisions is mapped below with two exceptions: 1) Connacht Province because it has already been delineated in a previous post, and 2) Tobercurry Poor Law Union because boundary data was not available.

County Sligo

County Sligo borders the Atlantic Ocean and is one of six counties in the Province of Connacht in Northwest Ireland.

Barony of Leyny

The Barony of Leyny is one of six baronies in County Sligo. Both the town of Tobercurry (Tubbercurry) and the village of Cloonacool are located in within its boundaries.

Civil Parish of Achonry

The Civil Parish of Anchonry is one of five civil parishes within the Barony of Leyny.

Civil parishes are civil government entities and do not correspond to Roman Catholic dioceses, which may have the same name.

Cloonacool Parish, a Roman Catholic parish where JF grew up, is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Achonry. (Yes, this can be confusing! Just remember that as far as government records go, Francis Armstrong lived in the Civil Parish of Achonry. When researching his family in Roman Catholic parish records, remember that they lived in Cloonacool Parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Achonry.)

Tobercurry Poor Law Union

As stated earlier, we didn’t find data for the poor law union boundaries within the Civil Parish of Achonry. Consequently, we didn’t map the Tobercurry Poor Law Union.

Cloonacool District Electoral Division

The village of Cloonacool and six townlands are located within the boundaries of the Cloonacool Electoral Division.

Kilcummin and Derreens Townlands

Derreens & Kilcummin Townlands in County Sligo

Townlands are the smallest civil land divisions in Ireland aside from sub-townlands and some villages or towns. In Griffith’s Valuation of County Sligo, which was printed in 1857, Francis Armstrong rented farmlands in the Townlands of Kilcummin and Derreens. The two townlands sit side by side, with the Ox Mountains to the West and the River Moy to the east. According to the valuation, in 1857, the family’s farmhouse was located in Kilcummin Townland (dark green).

Maps

The maps in this post were created by Scott B. Taylor in ArcGis using data from Townlands.ie under a copyright license at OpenStreetMaps. (See References below.)

References

Griffith’s Valuation 1847-1864. (2003). Retrieved July 11, 2016, from Ask About Ireland: http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/

Irish Townlands (2016). Retrieved December 2016 from Townlands.ie at https://www.townlands.ie/ under a copyright license at OpenStreetMaps at http://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright