The townlands listed here belonged to the Civil Registration District of BALLYCASTLE in 1885, some may have been moved to other districts or the name may have changed since then. Also listed are the Civil Parish, Registrar’s District, Electoral District and Barony that each townland belonged to. While these divisions do cause confusion amongst family history researchers unfamiliar with Irish geography, and while parts of some townlands may belong to more than one of these various divisions, the important thing to remember is that each division under which a townland may be listed can be considered a reference to a genealogical resource and that division or reference is the way or means by which you can find more information on that townland or the people who lived in it. The most important divisions listed on this page are really the townland name, the civil parish and the electoral division.

In relation to civil registration of births marriages and deaths, the event will have been registered with the local office for that townland – here listed as the Registrar’s District. That information will then have been forwarded to the main office for the whole District, recorded and filed accordingly – the information will then have been passed on to the Head Office for the whole of Ireland which was in Dublin. The information for all registered births, marrriages and deaths for these townlands will have been referenced under the name of the Poor Law Union in which they occurred. In this case ‘Ballycastle’

While the name of the ‘Registrar’s District’ is listed on this page, it is not of any real use to you the researcher other than to know that all registrations from these districts will be filed under ‘Ballycastle’ should you be looking at any annual Master Index to those records for Ireland for any event (births, marriages or deaths). It is only when you see the actual record giving the details of the event that you will see the name of any Registrar’s District. Other than that, on the Master Index, the only name listed is that of the Poor Law Union.

The Electoral Division to which any townland belongs is important in that it is under this heading that townlands will be found listed for the Irish 1901 and 1911 censuses. Should you be searching through the index books (of films) for Antrim county in order to ascertain which film you need to request in order to see the information for either census, then, it is under this name that you will find that reference. The film number will be the number assigned to the district – or so it is in the National Archives in Dublin. On each page with this District name will be listed also those townlands included in that Electoral District. However, this page should be considered as a guide only – districts may have been re-assigned in the intervening years and even between both the 1901 and 1911 census.

The importance of the civil parish lies in searching through the Tithe Applotment books, the Griffiths Valuation and for parish records. The Tithes and Griffiths are indexed by Civil Parish. Church of Ireland parish records generally retain the name of the Civil parish. So, if your ancestors came from a townland with a name listed on these pages, then you know which civil parish they may have come from.