Clare (or other ) placenames database - logainm.ie
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:47 pm
Paddy Waldron threw me this juicy steak last week and I'm still drooling over it. And if I'd kept up with the postings on the Library site at http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... places.htm I would have seen that it has also been flagged there.
Back in the 1830s in the context of the Ordnance Survey the surveyors produced a set of Field Name Books(see http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/maps/intro.htm ) which record townland names in English and Irish, as well as their meanings, in addition to a variety of other information. The Field Name Books (also Name Books) of places in Clare can be consulted in the Clare Library Local Studies Centre in Ennis. They are a goldmine of information because, for each place, they list the various names with their synonyms together with the names of the people who provided the information.
I'd known for some time that the Fiontar (DCU) and The Placenames Branch (Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs) were developing an online Placenames Database of Ireland but every time I'd looked at it it was "Work in Progress". Now it's up and motoring and it's an Aladdin's Cave of placename information because - this is the killer - they have digitalised the transcriptions of the 1835-40 Field Name Books !
I won't blether on about it. Just go to http://www.logainm.ie/ and punch in "your" Clare placename and take it from there.
Paddy
Back in the 1830s in the context of the Ordnance Survey the surveyors produced a set of Field Name Books(see http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/maps/intro.htm ) which record townland names in English and Irish, as well as their meanings, in addition to a variety of other information. The Field Name Books (also Name Books) of places in Clare can be consulted in the Clare Library Local Studies Centre in Ennis. They are a goldmine of information because, for each place, they list the various names with their synonyms together with the names of the people who provided the information.
I'd known for some time that the Fiontar (DCU) and The Placenames Branch (Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs) were developing an online Placenames Database of Ireland but every time I'd looked at it it was "Work in Progress". Now it's up and motoring and it's an Aladdin's Cave of placename information because - this is the killer - they have digitalised the transcriptions of the 1835-40 Field Name Books !
I won't blether on about it. Just go to http://www.logainm.ie/ and punch in "your" Clare placename and take it from there.
Paddy