Alan Counihan A Field Name Research ... - Townlands Project

CHAPTER ONE.
PREPARING THE WORK
1. Planning the Project
1. Planning the Project
2. Gathering Resources
Before starting a place name survey of any area you must
have a plan. The size of the area you choose to survey will
dictate the amount of time and work involved. A clear plan
will also allow you to establish the costs involved, both
financial and personal.
Define the field name survey territory
Define and select the territorial boundaries of your project. Be
reasonable in this target. The Cork and Kerry Place Names
Survey suggests that 150-300 place names can be collected in
a week’s work of 35 hours. In my own experience this is a
generous estimate. In the Townlands Project I confined my
research to the boundaries of the Civil Parish in which I reside.
This comprised nine townlands and over 3600 acres. It involved
several weeks of full-time work.
Plan a Survey Schedule
It is important to establish a realistic calculation as to the amount
of time and effort your survey will involve. Remember that there
may be as many as three visits per farm or household. The first
will be to introduce yourself and the survey and to solicit
participation. This is the time to deliver survey literature and map
copies and to establish phone contact links. The second visit will
be to collect the completed survey forms and maps or to sit with
the household and to go through the landholding field by field.
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