Every Sunday a “Letter from Ireland” arrives in my email box. Part of this week’s letter from Mike Collins is about early maps of Ireland and how the local townlands and villages came to be named.

Here’s an excerpt:

How should these places be interpreted for mapping and translation into English? Ironically, it is an English cartographer who cared most about preserving the local culture and traditions by translating Irish placenames in a way that encapsulates how they sound.

And so, places like "Baile Beag" (small home/village) become "Ballybeg".
"Drom Dubh" (black ridge) becomes "Drumduff".
"Poll na gCaorach" (pit of the sheep) becomes "Poolkerry".
 

Many of the anglicised townland and village names we know today, for example places beginning with Bally, Drum, Carrig, Knock and so on - can trace themselves back to this time in the early 1800s…. These early maps capture the surroundings and buildings that were familiar to many of our Irish ancestors - the churches, schools, villages, mills, barracks and much more.

Would you like to look at this historical map…? Well all you need do is click on the following link (best done on a larger screen, not on a smartphone) and follow the instructions to examine a part of Ireland of particular interest to you: map.geohive.ie.

Next, here is what you need to do in order to see the 1837 historical map of any of your ancestral locations in Ireland:

Once you are in the Geohive website - see the "Data Catalogue" at the top left of your screen?

Click on the + symbol beside the "Base Information and Mapping" option.

Select "Historic 6 Inch Colour 1837".

Now, zoom in on the map to an area of your interest by double-clicking on that area of the map (you can also use the + and - on the top right side of your map to zoom in and out). You'll get the hang of it in no time!

You can use the slider at the bottom of the left-side menu to "slide" between to modern representation of the map and the 1837 version.

Read Mike Collins' entire story – and sign up for free to receive your own weekly letter – at AletterfromIreland.