How were the county boundaries decided ?

thecommietommy

Often wondered the above. I have heard that some were formed roughly on the existing boundaries of clans i.e. Fermanagh the Maguires, Donegal the O'Donnells etc. So why and when did the boundaries as we know them today come about ?

biko

Are you referring to current county lines or older?
Wiki has a pretty good article on it, bit short of course but worth a read if you haven't already
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Ireland#Former_counties

edit, ah you mean how they originated?

Seanchai

thecommietommy wrote: »

Often wondered the above. I have heard that some were formed roughly on the existing boundaries of clans i.e. Fermanagh the Maquires, Donegal the O'Donnells etc. So why and when did the boundaries as we know them today come about ?

Leaving aside the Norman origins of the first counties, from the 1570s the New English began appointing commissioners for 'shiring' (hence the word 'sheriff'). Westmeath, which had been created in 1542, was reshaped in 1569/70, along with Angaile (Longford) and Muintir Eolais (South Leitrim). Cavan (1579) and Monaghan (1585) were created by the same process of appointing commissioners. Aside from being granted incredible powers, these commissioners were incredibly corrupt and by 1580 numbered very few native-born Palesmen (where they did exist they were invariably hardline Protestant and loyalist, most infamously Robert Dillon.)

The creation of Monaghan, and to a lesser extent Cavan, was one of the central causes of the Nine Years War. More specifically, the introduction of an English sheriff who used the English military to carry out widespread executions of the native Irish is attributed by Nicholas Canny to be a central cause of popular pressure in the early 1590s on the native Irish lords to resist English colonial encroachments into Ulster.

jonniebgood1

They came in mainly between the late 11th century and the late 16th century, Wicklow being the last of our current 32 counties to be named. Dublin having been the first. Many towns were given their own councils and nominated as counties so that by 1899 there was actually 40 county councils on the Island. The councils were mainly tools of the colonial powerbase set up by the British to control chunks of the country bit by bit. Most were divided up as sheriffs were appointed to control each area.

Milk & Honey

The catholic diocesan boundaries were mapped according to the tribal territories. Look at the map of the diocesan boundaries and also at the county boundaries. To a greater or lesser extent the counties have little or no connection with the diocesan boundaries. There were the three dioceses of Cloyne, Cork and Ross, all pretty much in County Cork.

Coolnabacky1873

A Concise History of Ireland (1909) by P.W. Joyce has a short note of the formation of the counties.

Clare Library website discusses the formation of the county in 1565.

There was also a number of Boundary Survey Acts in the 1850s (1854, 1857 and 1859).

The Irish Times covered the then proposed Local Government Act of 1898 that modified some boundaries.
"Proposed Alterations in Counties". Irish Times: p. 7. 19 July 1898.

mike65

Newstalk did a feature on this very topic during Moncreifs show, its probably on the website for listening back, it started after the 3 pm news I think.

jonniebgood1

mike65 wrote: »

Newstalk did a feature on this very topic during Moncreifs show, its probably on the website for listening back, it started after the 3 pm news I think.

Yes. With Tommy Graham of History Ireland.

mchammer

Hi all,

this may seem like a silly question but is there a descriptive account of where the county boundary lies as well as a mapped one. My concern is that the new ordnance survey maps may be inaccurate in some instances where a county boundary is defined by a stream,river upland area and that there is no reference for where the boundary actually lies? I am thinking in the context of rural areas.
I figured that somewhere along the line someone must have recorded a descriptive account of the boundaries?

Am i bonkers?

Thanks
MC