Page "Townland" Paragraph 17

This hierarchy did not apply uniformly across Ireland for example a ballybetagh or townland could contain more or less than four ploughlands.

Further confusion arises when it is taken into account that whilst Larcom used the general term acres in his summary, terms such as ' great acres ', ' large acres ', and ' small acres ' were also used in records.

Writing in 1846, Larcom remarks that the ' large ' and ' small ' acres had no fixed ratio between them and that there were various other kinds of acre in use in Ireland, for example: the Irish acre ; English acre ; Cunningham acre ; plantation acre and statute acre.

The Ordnance Survey maps used the statute acre measurement.

The quality and situation of the land affected the size of these acres.

The Cunningham acre is given as being a medium between the Irish and English acre.