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Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 9:43PM GMT
Classification: Query
We are the fortunate recipients of the excellent genealogy work done by an Englishman on our common surname. He passed away over 10 years ago and I can not communicate with him to clarify certain location names. Plus, he knew where a place was when he recorded the ancestral locations in England, Scotland, Ireland and possibly Wales. I'm an American and can sort out his locations for the US. But, I don't have the benefit of growing up in England and having UK and Irish location names be second nature to me.

Where can I go to determine how a location in the UK and Ireland should be recorded?

For example, should I be using London, England, Great Britain, or London, England, United Kingdom? Or should it be London, Middlesex, England, etc.? What should London be called before Great Britain became Great Britain? How does Shoreditch fit into the London area with respect to how it should be used?

I'm aware that some of the English counties (shires?) changed boundaries and names in the 1970's, and that the correct name of a location is fully dependent on when an event (eg. birth, marriage, death) occurred but I need a place to consult to determine the proper name for a particular location in time.

Does anyone know of a good place or places I can go on the Internet to simply make a proper location name determination?

I don't want to ask anyone to expend the energy to help me on each specific location I can't figure out. This would be too much of an imposition by far.

I have over 1300 records going back to the 1500's from the fine, above-mentioned English gentleman which I am transferring into a genealogy program (happens to be RootsMagic) from his spreadsheet of data where he used his own numbering/relationship scheme that he devised. So, you can see the challenge I'm faced with and why I need location naming help. Google Maps helps but isn't really a good answer as locations are defined for modern times.

Thank you for your time and effort in helping me out if you can.

Take care... Peter Bradish, Titusville, Florida, USA

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 22 Aug 2014 11:15PM GMT
Classification: Query
A good place to start:-
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/
and note that some counties have start and end dates, some registration districts also come and go! All meant to confuse the innocent.
Rob

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 23 Aug 2014 1:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
Also try GENUKI's Gazetteer at http://www.genuki.org.uk/cgi-bin/gaz
and British History Online at https://www.british-history.ac.uk/

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 26 Aug 2014 7:10PM GMT
Classification: Query
Registration counties are often significantly divergent from administrative counties - a trap for the unwary.

Googling "pre-1974 counties" should throw up some helpful sites.

MOst (though n ot all...) historic records are organised by pre-1974 counties: I'd advise sticking to them. However, there were *some* changes and revisions to the boundaries of some counties in the nineteenth century to accommodate growing urban and industrial populations.

The National Library of Scotland maps pages have the various editions of Ordnance Survey six inch to one mile maps for all of England and Wales online in high resolution scans - for free! The oldest editions (typically 1860s-1880s) will be useful to you. Be aware however that the parish boundaries on these maps are civil parishes, NOT ecclesiastical parishes: they often share the same name and may share the same boundaries in some places, but they are not the same throughout.

Somewhere in the depths of The National Archives website are high resolution scans of the Old Series One Inch to One Mile Ordnance Survey Maps, the rare 1850s edition headed "Index to Tithe Survey". These are an excellent source for ecclesiastical parish boundaries (regular editions of the Old Series One Inch do not show the boundaries). Again, be aware that from the 1830s onwards there were *some* changes and revisions to the boundaries of some ecclesiastical parishes to accommodate growing urban and industrial populations, notably the creation of additional new parishes.

Hope these notes are useful!

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 9 Sep 2014 8:21PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Bradish
I want to thank all of you who responded to my request, "robmoff", "mi2early" and "protheroejones". I've investigated all the suggested web sites and have greatly appreciated the advice. All of you helped me with my efforts during the past two weeks in the FHL. Early on I completed the recording of all 1300 records/rows in the spreadsheet into RootsMagic. It generated 1430+ records (due to unknown spouses, spouses and children mentioned in comments). Thanks to your efforts to help me, most of the locations are "probably" noted correctly but a few are still a mystery, perhaps due to spelling differences or location name changes.

I am now working on an even bigger task, to confirm the sources mentioned in the gentleman's spreadsheet and add further evidence to his significant family history effort. It's going to take time but it will be worth it to preserve and enhance the work he has done. But at least it won't significantly be slowed down because of frequent place name confusion.

My thanks to all of you again, your effort and responses are appreciated.

Happy ancestor hunting... Peter Bradish

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 10 Sep 2014 1:00PM GMT
Classification: Query
So glad you were helped, Peter. Best of luck with your project.

Re: Need UK and Irish location naming reference...

Posted: 24 Oct 2014 11:42PM GMT
Classification: Query
http://www.logainm.ie/en is good for Ireland, depending on how the s/sheet was constructed.

If County was used then just select the county and from there select whichever applies,Town or Parish etc.

If it is by Parish you get the names of Parishes where you can then click on to get further breakdowns. With Irish places you have to allow for various spellings like Carrick/Carraigh/Carrig etc for same place.
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