Administrative Divisions in North Antrim

Most of you will want to know in which Parish, Barony, PLU or DED, etc. a particular townland was located. Normally you would find this information in the 1901 Topographical Index. Here I have provided a database to make it easier for you. The townlands are arranged alphabetically in both the Excel and PDF versions of the database. You can, of course, search and sort the Excel version in any way that you wish.

From the seventeenth century onwards the basic administrative unit was the townland. From the 1600s until the middle of the nineteenth century groups of townlands were organised under civil parishes, these parishes were further organised under baronies, and baronies were organised under counties.

The map Counties & Baronies of  Ulster will show you the nine counties of the historic province of Ulster and the baronies in each county.

The map Baronies & Parishes of  North Antrim  will show you the baronies and parishes which make up the North Antrim area.

With the introduction of the Poor Law in the 1840s, new administrative divisions were introduced based on the Poor Law Unions. Poor Law Unions were centred on the main market towns in the province and each Poor Law Union was further divided into District Electoral Divisions.

The map Poor Law Unions in North Antrim and East Londonderry c.1860 will show  distribution and extent of the Poor Law Unions in this area in the middle of the nineteenth century.

The map Poor Law Unions, Dispensary [Local Registrars'] Districts & District Electoral Divisions [DEDs] of North Antrim, c.1900 will show the subdivisions within each Poor Law Union. It is important that you are aware of these subdivisions when using Griffith's Revision Books, the 1901 and 1911 Census and when looking for civil birth, death and marriage records.