To all listers: Here's the advent of a new era in locating that pesky townland or "village". (From a friend, with permission). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >> ANNOUNCEMENT New Internet Discussion Group & Website - Irish Placename Studies We are pleased to announce that a new discussion group with the above title has been created. Irish Placename Studies has been designed to fulfil a number of requirements: - To provide a central point for general enquiries about Irish placenames - To bring together those currently working in placename & related fields on the internet - To consolidate and build on the various placename and mapping projects on the internet - To work in conjunction with established placename organisations in Ireland - To raise awareness of, and begin to act on, poorly researched areas of Irish placename studies Basically, from your point of view what all that boils down to is this: We're there to handle queries about untraceable townlands or parishes etc., discuss modern and medieval placename issues, bring amateur enthusiasts and experts together, raise awareness of issues like the near total lack of recording and study of Irish field names etc., and above all to drag together all those disparate groups producing digital parish & townland maps and placename database materials like the awe-inspiring IREAtlas to begin a coordinated effort to digitally map out Ireland's placenames, making huge volumes of accurate data available free to... well people like you. Oh, and there'll shortly be a website tied to the discussion group, and acting as a home/ gateway to whatever datasets or articles we produce or can find elsewhere on the 'net. The general idea is to build up a critical mass of people so that achieving some of the above (admittedly gigantic) tasks actually becomes feasible. The discussions are all moderated, so there aren't any nuts pushing obscene or offensive ideas or material, and the tone is open, friendly and enthusiastic. 8-) So, want to be in on this enormous, exciting, challenging, terrifying project from the start...? or just want to ask some simple questions? Here's what you need to do: Step 1: email a blank message to this address - irish-placename-studies-subscribe@egroups.com Step 2: there is no step 2... you're in! 8-) Looking forward to seeing you there... MAQQI list owner, Irish Placename Studies list-group owner, Irish Archaeology & History Mailinglist Suite: Stone Age: stone-age-ireland-subscribe@egroups.com Bronze Age: bronze-age-ireland-subscribe@egroups.com Iron Age: iron-age-ireland-subscribe@egroups.com 400-1200AD: early-med-irl-subscribe@egroups.com 1000-1700AD: lategael-subscribe@egroups.com 1600-1900AD: early-modern-ireland-subscribe@egroups.com Archaeology: irisharchaeology-subscribe@egroups.com Settlement: irish-settlement-studies-subscribe@egroups.com Natural History: irish-natural-history-subscribe@egroups.com >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Pete Schermerhorn, in the glorious Berkshire hills of western Massachusetts