The counties were gradually established by the English since the arrival of the Normans. There are thirty-two counties and these are formed into four Provinces. Province The four Provinces of Ireland are Connaught, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. Each comprises a number of counties. These are separate administrative areas of varying size.
Many towns have several civil parishes, whereas some civil parishes have several townships.
A ward is an administrative unit within a city or large town. A Union was a group of parishes usually centred on a market town, where a workhouse might be built, with parishes and townlands as subdivisions. Rates, land based taxes, were collected within these areas for maintenance to the poor. They were named after a large town. The same districts later became used as General Register Districts.