Townlands are the smallest statutory boundary in the country and are based on Gaelic and later Norman and plantation divisions. In general, other territorial divisions are collections of townlands. The 6” survey of Ireland carried out under the 1825 Boundary Survey Act documented and formalised the boundaries of townlands in Ireland. Townlands are statute boundaries under the 19th century Boundary Survey Acts and can only be altered by statutory instrument. This dataset is a digital representation of the statutory boundary as shown on the relevant historic mapping and includes alterations brought about by statutory instruments.There are approximately 50,200 townlands in the Republic of Ireland. This dataset is provided by Tailte Éireann