Electoral divisions and civil parishes

[pwaldron]

I have been trying to figure out to what extent the boundaries of the Poor Law Unions (PLUs) formed in 1838 and 1839 and/or the (sometimes multi-seat) electoral divisions (EDs) into which they were originally divided respected the boundaries of civil parishes. As the term Union has long been (and still is) used to describe a Union of Parishes, my hunch is that the PLU boundaries at least respected civil parish boundaries.

Despite consulting CSO, OSI, The Clare Elections, etc., I have been unable to obtain any maps of these original PLUs or EDs or lists of the townlands which they contained. I would welcome any information on where such details can be found.

There are 81 civil parishes in County Clare - see
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... rishes.htm

Based on
http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Ireland/Un ... land.shtml
I have identified 59 original electoral divisions wholly or partly in County Clare. (The only ED that I suspect straddled the county boundary is County of City of Limerick which probably included the parts of St. Munchin's and St. Patrick's parishes in County Clare.)

After the reorganisation of the late 1840s, County Clare comprised approximately 154 (single-seat) District Electoral Divisions (DEDs). This is the number used at the time of the 1901 census - see
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... s_deds.htm

Thus the original EDs were on average bigger than a civil parish, and the new DEDs were on average smaller than a civil parish.

The attached Microsoft Excel spreadsheet may help anyone who wants to further explore these subdivisions and the connections between them.

To my pleasant surprise, the 13 EDs in the original Kilrush PLU can be matched up one-for-one with thirteen civil parishes (allowing for spelling variations, duplicate parish names, and other complications) - see my query of last May at
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... 6305#p6305

The first complication, as I previously noted at
http://www.ourlibrary.ca/phpbb2/viewtop ... 6690#p6690
is that most of Kilmurry Ibrickan civil parish was in Kilrush PLU, apart from eight townlands which were in Ennistymon PLU, at least in the post-1851 lists at
http://www.seanruad.com/
These townlands were: Carrowduff, Doonsallagh East, Doonsallagh West, Killernan, Knockanalban, Knockloskeraun, Shanavogh East, Shanavogh West.

The second complication is that a single townland in Kilmihil civil parish, known as Illaunatoo or Sorrel Island - see
http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,516263,668300,6,7
was included in Ennis PLU. This has confused even Hugh Weir who, in Houses of Clare, wrote (p.250) that this townland "does not seem to have been recorded by Griffith in his 1855 valuation" and neglects to mention Michael Fitzgerald who is recorded by Griffith as occupying Sorrel House. The townland can be found all by its lonesome at
http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith- ... eID=236134
[Hint: Some people don't seem to realise that to avoid the annoying subwindows at askaboutireland.ie, one can right-click on the icon and select "Open in new tab".]

There are one or two discrepancies in Scariff PLU - I suspect that Scariff ED comprised both Moynoe and Tomgraney civil parishes, and that Killaloe ED may have included part of O'Briensbridge civil parish.

There are one or two discrepancies in Limerick PLU - I suspect that the remainder of O'Briensbridge civil parish may have been included with Kiltenanlea civil parish in Kiltannonlea ED, and Kilfintinan civil parish may have been included in Kilfenaghta and/or Killeely EDs.

There are wholescale discrepancies in both Ennis and Ennistymon PLUs, and the number of EDs in each of these PLUs is much smaller than the number of civil parishes.

Gort PLU contains one County Clare ED, namely Kilkeedy, which probably coincides with the civil parish of Kilkeedy. Conversely Scariff PLU contains the ED of Woodford, probably coinciding with the civil parish of Woodford, still in County Galway.

The Clare PLUs were rearranged on 22 Feb 1850, when the new Ballyvaughan and Corofin unions were carved out of Ennistymon, Kildysart (Killadysert) was carved out of Kilrush and Ennis, and Tulla was carved out of Ennis and Scariff.

[caoilte]

For the poorlaw unions of Clare see Chris O'Mahony, The Poor law Records of Clare, Limerick & Tipperary in a special supplement to North Munster Antiquarian Journal 21 (1979).
Caoilte

[pwaldron]

Thanks, Caoilte. I have that volume, but not the supplement. I also have the index to volumes I-XXX, which does not mention the 1979 supplement! I am trying to get my hands on it.

[matthewmacnamara]

Dear Paddy,

Would you know if the boundaries of the Electoral Division of Killeely coincided with
the boundaries of the Civil Parish of the same name?

It was in the area of the Limerick Union.

[mcreed]

Matthew, the Electoral Division of Killeely included two townlands from St Munchins civil parish according to http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... ly_ded.htm

[pwaldron]

There are 28 townlands in Killeely civil parish. 19 are in county Clare (all in Bunratty Lower barony) and 9 in county Limerick (6 in Pubblebrien barony, two in the Municipal Borough of Limerick, and Monabraher divided between the two).

Of the 19 Clare townlands, four are in Cratloe DED and the other 15 in Killeely DED.

The entire civil parish is in Limerick Poor Law Union.

Another example of the boundaries of a new administrative partition of Ireland completely ignoring pre-existing boundaries!

[sadhbh]

Paddy,
the O'Mahony maps of the Poor Law Unions are online here http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... u/plus.htm.

[pwaldron]

Thanks, Sadhbh.

Pity I didn't spot your message before my Clare Roots Society presentation last night! I've added the maps to the presentation now, at
http://pwaldron.info/CRS/