Censuses were taken in Ireland regularly every ten years from 1821. The 1851 General Alphabetical Index to Townlands, based on material from the 1851 census, was the first published systematic overview of place names in Ireland.
The 1871 General Alphabetical Index to Townlands was also published but is rare and locating an original copy is virtually impossible.
The 1901 Census was taken on 31 March 1901 and the General Index to the Topographical Divisions of Ireland, commonly known as “The Townland Index” was produced while the census was being taken and published as a book in 1904.
It has not been as readily available as its predecessor, the 1851 edition. Now, for the first time 1901 is available here as a digital, fully searchable database. This enables searches by any of the following fields: County | Townland | Sheet Number Ordnance Survey Map and Area | Barony | Parish | District Electoral Division | Poor Law Unions | District Electoral Divisions | Dispensary (or Registrars) Districts | County Electoral Divisions.
