BROWSE
townland
Baile an tSrutháin
genitive: Bhaile an tSrutháin
(Irish)
Streamstown
(English)

Glossary

English townland, town, homestead

Hierarchy

county

barony

civil parish

Explanatory note

  • English

    The first element of this English place-name is unlikely to be a surname, despite the forms in -s- (2–7), as Stream is not recorded among the Anglo-Norman settlers either in Wexford or elsewhere in Ireland. The name probably refers to the streams that converge at the northeastern corner of this townland.

    Streamstown is the name of a number of townlands elsewhere. Some are of English origin, while others such as Streamstown in Offaly are demonstrably translations of Irish Baile an tSrutháin or similar (see logainm.ie). The Irish form of the place-name proposed here is a translation, using the commonly occurring Irish name.

    [It has recently been suggested that ‘...Ekwall’s dictionary of English place-names [The concise Oxford dictionary of English place-names] confirms ... Streamstown is not an English place-name. The ON straumr means a rapid stream/tideway, i.e. where tidal waters run rapidly inland along a stream (...)’ The methodology leading to such a conclusion is problematic in the extreme. The absence of an English-language place-name from a dictionary of place-names in England cannot be taken to preclude English-language origin for the same name in Ireland. Such an approach would be akin to suggesting that Barrystown (#53935) in the parish of Bannow, which derives its name from an Anglo-Norman surname, cannot be of English-language origin because no similar place-name occurs in England (see also Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of County Wexford pp.522–3). Both stream and town were, and still are, productive words in the English of Ireland, and their occurrence in the present place-name is entirely unproblematic. Evidence of the productive usage of Eng. stream is found in the early seventeenth-century translations ‘Streamestowne’ and ‘Stremston’, the colonists’ new names for two places in Offaly known in Irish as Baile an tSrutháin (#41426; #41175) — one of which is situated at the foot of Slievebloom, far from tidal waters. There are also numerous later examples of Streamstown used to translate Baile an tSrutháin elsewhere in the country (e.g. #19460; #19680; #32563; #36155; #45099). Streamstown was also used as an English pseudo-translation of Barr an tSrutha (#18114) “the top, head of the stream, current” in County Galway.]

    [Excerpt from Logainmneacha na hÉireann IV: Townland Names of County Wexford, 2016]

Centrepoint

52.2491, -6.38191latitude, longitude
Irish Grid (with letter)
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Irish Grid (without letter)
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Irish Transverse Mercator (ITM)
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Historical references

1590
36 acres in le Stremeton
CPCR (Morrin) 207
CPCR
1654
Streamestowne (Jas. Keating)
CS (LG) Leathanach: 307
1659
Stremton
Cen. Leathanach: 536
1660
Streamstowne (James Keating)
BSD (LG) Leathanach: 92
1666
Streamestowne (Edm. Highgate)
ASE Leathanach: 122
1680
Streamstown
BS:AL Imleabhar: I, Leathanach: 16
1685
Streansto
Hib. Del.
1690c
Streamstowne (Edm. Higate)
Quit Rent (LG) Leathanach: 30a
1723
Streamstown (Boyd-Savage)
CGn. Imleabhar: 39, Leathanach: 229, Uimhir: 25084
1840
Streametowne
DS Map:AL Imleabhar: 1, Leathanach: 16
1840
Streamstown
Elrington, C. R., Rev.:AL (LG)
1840
Streamstown
GJP:AL Imleabhar: 1, Leathanach: 16
1840
Streamstown
OD:AL Imleabhar: 1, Leathanach (AL): 16
1840
Streamstown
Rice:AL (LG)
1840
Streamstown
Rowe, W.:AL (LG) Ros Láir
1840
Streamstown
Tanner:AL (LG) Ros Láir
1840
Streamstowne
DS Ref.:AL Imleabhar: 1, Leathanach: 16

Please note: Some of the documentation from the archives of the Placenames Branch is available here. It indicates the range of research contributions undertaken by the Branch on this placename over the years. It may not constitute a complete record, and evidence may not be sequenced on the basis of validity. It is on this basis that this material is made available to the public.

Archival and research material provided on this site may be used, subject to acknowledgement. Issues regarding republication or other permissions or copyright should be addressed to logainm@dcu.ie.

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