ballybetagh

plural ballybetaghs · alternative ballibetoe · alternative ballybeto · alternative ballybetoe

1. historicalA division of land in Ireland equal to 480 Irish acres (approximately 315 hectares or 778 statute acres) of arable land.

   Besides these food rents (from the Mensal lands), Maguire had about 240 beeves yearly paid unto him out of the seven baronies, and about his castle at Enniskillen he had about a half ballybetagh, which he manured (tilled) […]

   1908, Arthur O'Clery, The History of Ireland to the Coming of Henry II., page 233

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   In many instances the ancient names of the ballybetaghs are lost, and the names of their subdivisions only are retained as townland names; but in some instances the name of the ballybetagh remains, although it is not applied to as large [an area].

   1844, Duald Mac Firbis, Geineaich ua Ch-Fiachrach, page 204

   To the former was assigned five ballybetaghs in demesne, and to the freeholders under him eleven ballybetaghs and a half; to the latter two ballybetaghs and a half, and to freeholders under him two other ballybetaghs and a half.

   1879, Evelyn Philip Shirley, The History of the County of Monaghan, page 240

   In late medieval Gaelic Monaghan, the ballybetaghs with their intricate tate subsections, were combined into parishes, indicating a link between secular and ecclesiastical territorial order that was universal throughout Christian Europe.

   2007, Patrick J. Duffy, Exploring the History and Heritage of Irish Landscapes, Four Courts PressLtd