"A townland is the smallest geographical unit in Ireland with over 60,000 such  units recorded. The value of the names of these names to archaeologists cannot be overstated.  Very often the only evidence of an archaeological feature in the landscape is that preserved in the original Irish name and it is important that the archaeologist is aware of the possible translations of the names in modern usage.  A typical example in this area is that of a corrie lake in the Knockmealdown mountains named Bay Lough.  Here we have two perfectly correct words with a hint of Gaelic about the word ‘lough’.  However, the correct name of this lake has been lost in the mists of time and the name ‘Bay Lough’ is the phoenetic English translation of the word Bealach  (meaning a ‘pass’) which, in this case, is the mountain pass right beside the lake.  The 1840 Ordnance Survey map shows in almost indecipherable print the word Lachtatassonig.  This name is no longer remembered locally but its translation has significance for the archaeologist as it translates to The grave mound of the Sasanach.  Sasanach can mean the Englishman or more literally – the Stranger.  Indeed, when one considers that this name is at the foot of a hill that has also lost its Irish name, and has been given the English name ‘The Sugarloaf’, and when one further considers that the top of this hill is the site of a large stone cairn, the value of that name – Lachtatassonig – becomes wonderfully evident.  It is regrettable that the names of many subdivisions of townlands are now all but lost to us in Ireland as they contained valuable evidence for the archaeologist.  Such names always have as a component a reference to topography, history or archaeology.  A road, a hill, a tomb, a bend of a river, a building, or simply a rock, any of these can find expression in a townland name. For example, in the word ‘Kill’-  we find evidence for churches where no ruins are to be seen.  'Rath' can indicate a fort and leacht indicates a grave, and so on.  A comprehensive listing of such names serves no pupose here..."