Format of civil birth records?

[bugbear]

I am looking at the birth registration of Margaret Devlin in 1867
This is registered in Blackwatertown, County Armagh. In column 2 (date and place of birth) I find:

24 Nov 1867, Ballycullen, Clonfeacle.

My ignorance of Irish geography is quite profound, but google is helpful.

Confeacle appears to be a Parish, either inside or adjacent to the village of Blackwatertown, the place of registration. That seems fine.

But Balleycullen is (now) a suburb of Dublin, some 100 miles away.

Why are two birth locations 100 miles apart given?

Further, exactly the same two locations are given from the birth of Margaret's brother Francis Devlin in 1870

[Kiltaglassan]

I am looking at the birth registration of Margaret Devlin in 1867
This is registered in Blackwatertown, County Armagh. In column 2 (date and place of birth) I find:

24 Nov 1867, Ballycullen, Clonfeacle.

My ignorance of Irish geography is quite profound, but google is helpful.

Confeacle appears to be a Parish, either inside or adjacent to the village of Blackwatertown, the place of registration. That seems fine.

But Balleycullen is (now) a suburb of Dublin, some 100 miles away.

Why are two birth locations 100 miles apart given?

Further, exactly the same two locations are given from the birth of Margaret's brother Francis Devlin in 1870

Ballycullen townland (also known as Shanmullagh and Drumask) is in the civil parish of Clonfeacle (Armagh portion). It's NOT the townland in Dublin.

https://www.townlands.ie/armagh/armagh/clonfeacle-armagh-portion/charlemont/shanmullagh/

https://www.townlands.ie/armagh/armagh/clonfeacle-armagh-portion/charlemont/drumask/

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/5168582#map=13/54.4288/-6.6950


See entry #305 here-
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1867/03467/2273169.pdf

[Elwyn Soutter]

Many townlands in Ireland have the same (or very similar names).  It’s easy to get them mixed up, and Google is not the ideal tool for searching for them. Many townlands are very small and only have a few inhabitants. Some even have none. So Google isn’t great at identifying them. In the 1901 census Shanmullagh or Ballycullen had 7 houses, and a total population of 22.

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Armagh/Charlemont/Shanmullagh_or_Ballycullen/

The Placenames NI site will show you where the Clonfeacle Ballycullen is:

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9b31e0501b744154b4584b1dce1f859b/page/Home/?data_id=dataSource_1-PlaceNames_Gazeteer_No_Global_IDs_3734%3A28328

[bugbear]

It appears it's not just Irish geography I'm ignorant of... I'd never heard of a "Townland"

Thanks to all for improving my knowledge.

[Kiltaglassan]

It appears it's not just Irish geography I'm ignorant of... I'd never heard of a "Townland"

Thanks to all for improving my knowledge.

Irish Genealogy Toolkit

https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com/Irish-land-divisions.html#Townlands