Allen Blog- Making a Map of the Allen Farms in County Meath

Thank goodness for hedgerows and stone fences! These classic land markers have stood the test of time...

Hedgerows and an old stone wall near Richard Allen's farm in Ireland

If you take a look at Google Satellite Maps, and type in Summerhill, County Meath, Ireland, you will come to the area in Ireland where our Allen ancestors lived. If you zoom in a bit, you will see that the many fields of green are subdivided by clear lines of trees and hedgerows. In some areas, I recognize hawthorns, which grown on my land here in West Virginia. I am fairly certain that it is impossible to kill these thorny bushes, which soon grow into small trees. Cut them down, they sprout from the stump. So maybe it is no surprise that briary hawthorns, multi-floral rose, and old stone walls still divide fields in Ireland. In any case, this time they were a great help to me.

 Griffith's Valuation of 1855 lists each tiny townsland, the inhabitants, their acreage and whom they leased from. It gives a number key which corresponds to the 1855 Griffith's Map. I had found Richard Allen's farm, where Hugh Allen and his sibling grew up in Great Umberstown, (Laracor Civil Parish) not far from the town of Summerhill.

 Now I wanted to find the other Allens in the area who were likely his kin, as well as the Sweeny's, who were likely the kin of Richard Allen's wife (Hugh's mother) Margaret Sweeny. Here is a list of all of the Allens in Laracor Civil Parish in 1855.

Allens in Laracor Civil Parish


If you click on the largest "Original Page" symbol next to the name, it will go to the page which shows the person under their townland, along with information on their farms- who their landlord was, how many acres they leased, and how much tax they paid. Here is Richard and John Allen, Patrick Sweeny and their neighbors in the townland of Great Umberstown .

Great Umberstown townland- neighbors

On the left of this list is a key which shows the number of their farm on the Griffith's Map. Going Back to the Allen's in Laracor Parish list, after the "original page" symbol is a "Map Views" symbol. The one on the right will take you to the Griffith's Map. Here is what you find if you click on the map view for Richard Allen.

Griffith's Map View for Richard Allen in Great Umberstown

As you can see, you  have to zoom in and hunt a lot to find Great Umberstown, then zoom in until you find the number for Richard Allen's farm (4a.) It takes a while! And all of those tiny townslands are confusing! Where in the world is "Ballinrigg??

I wanted to get a better idea of where the Allen and Sweeny families lived in the area, so I decided to make a map of the farms from Griffiths- labeling them so I would have a better picture of where they lived and how far apart their farms were. I used Google Maps to create a map on "My Maps" and clicked on the Satellite View.

There they were- those tenacious hedgerows. They still matched up nearly exactly to the land plots in the 1855 Griffith's Valuation Map. I was able to follow the hedgerows on the Google Map to draw lines and map the properties. So- long story short, here is the map. Most of the Allen farms were within a half hour walk to the church in Dangan, and less than that to each other's farm. We have no proof at this time that they were related, but it is certainly highly likely. (Someday with more DNA evidence...)

 Here is a link so you can see the Allen farms marked on the map. You can click on each shape and it will tell you who lived there.  If you go back to You can also zoom in to explore how the farms look today. If you want to explore further, you can go back to regular Google Maps and find the farms (just follow the roads.) Street view appears to work well in this area so you can drag the little person onto the road to take a walk though our ancestor's neighborhood. Hope you enjoy!

My Google Map of Allens near Summerhill