Ontario Lots and Concessions Explained

Ontario's land survey system looks nothing like the numbered grid used in Alberta or Saskatchewan. Where western Canada's Dominion Land Survey counts northward from a baseline and westward from a meridian, Ontario uses a system of named geographic townships divided into numbered concession strips running east-west and numbered lots running north-south. The result is a patchwork of irregularly sized townships, each with its own internal lot-and-concession grid, bearing the names of British colonial administrators, military officers, and local geography.

This system has been in continuous legal use since the late eighteenth century. Understanding it is essential for anyone working with Ontario land titles, real estate descriptions, or mineral tenure in the northern part of the province.

Origins: British Crown Grants and Colonial Survey

Ontario's survey tradition begins with the colonial administration of Upper Canada after the American Revolution. The British government needed to organize land grants for Loyalist settlers arriving from the former American colonies — quickly, and at scale.

The solution was the township survey. Beginning in the 1780s, government surveyors laid out townships across southern Ontario, each covering a defined geographic area and named by the Surveyor General's office. Early townships were named for British colonial figures (Thurlow, Sidney, Rawdon), military officers (Addington, Hastings), and geographical features. Later surveys in northern Ontario extended the system, though with less regularity due to the rocky Canadian Shield terrain.

Each township was divided internally into concession lines running parallel to the front (usually the lake or river shore that defined the township's southern boundary) and lot lines running perpendicular. The resulting strips — concessions — were numbered from the front inward, and the lots within each concession strip were numbered from one side of the township to the other.

Unlike the western DLS, which was designed as a single uniform national grid, Ontario's lot-and-concession system was applied township by township, with each survey adapting to local geography. The front concession of one township might be at a different orientation than its neighbour. Lot widths varied. The number of concessions per township varied. The system is coherent within each township but cannot be aggregated into a single provincial grid.

Structure of the System

Geographic Townships

An Ontario geographic township is a named survey district — not a municipality. A geographic township might be coextensive with a local municipality, split across several municipalities, or fall entirely within an unorganized territory.

The name is the first element in any lot-and-concession reference. Without the township name, a lot and concession number is ambiguous — there are lots and concessions with the same numbers in hundreds of different townships across the province.

Township names appear in Ontario land registry records exactly as surveyed. Minor spelling variations (McNab vs. McNabb) and historical name changes (some townships were renamed after Confederation) are a routine challenge in historical title research.

Concessions

A concession is a strip of land running across the width of a township, parallel to the front boundary. Concessions are numbered from the front of the township inward — Concession 1 is at the front, Concession 2 is next, and so on. In townships surveyed from a shoreline, Concession 1 is the waterfront strip.

Most southern Ontario townships have between 7 and 14 concessions, each roughly 1.25 miles deep. Northern Ontario townships, where survey lines were run with less frequency, may have fewer concessions with greater depth.

Some townships used names instead of numbers for early concessions — "Front Concession" or "Broken Front" were common designations for the irregular strip along a shoreline or river. These named concessions appear in historical title records and can complicate automated lookups.

Lots

Within each concession, the land is divided into lots of roughly 200 acres, numbered from one side of the township to the other. Lot numbers typically run from 1 at the east or west boundary of the township, depending on the survey orientation.

Lot widths are nominally consistent within a concession but vary across townships. Early southern Ontario townships typically have lots of about a quarter-mile wide. Northern Ontario townships, surveyed later and with less precision, may have wider lots.

A complete lot description identifies the lot number, the concession, and the geographic township.

Format and Examples

Standard Format

Lot number, Concession number, Township of name

This is the legal description format used in Ontario land titles and most regulatory filings.

Example 1: Southern Ontario Agricultural Land

Lot 15, Concession 3, Township of McNab

McNab Township is in Renfrew County, west of the Ottawa Valley. Lot 15, Concession 3 is a parcel in the middle of the township, roughly 200 acres of mixed agricultural and woodlot land typical of the Ottawa Valley Shield transition zone.

Example 2: Northern Ontario Mining

Lot 8, Concession 12, Township of Nickel Centre

Nickel Centre Township (now part of the City of Greater Sudbury) is in the heart of the Sudbury Basin, one of Canada's most significant mining districts. Mineral claims in the area are registered using lot-and-concession references from the underlying geographic township.

Example 3: Broken Lot at a Watercourse

Broken Lot 3, Concession 1, Township of Thurlow

A "broken lot" is a lot that was surveyed irregularly due to a watercourse, escarpment, or other geographic feature. Broken lots appear frequently in concessions along rivers and lakes. They are valid legal descriptions but may have non-standard acreage.

Part Lot Descriptions

Ontario titles often describe fractions of lots. The standard form for a part lot is:

Part Lot 12, Concession 5, Township of Rawdon

The specific part is then defined by a reference plan (a registered survey plan on file at the land registry office) or by a metes-and-bounds description.

How Lots and Concessions Differ from the DLS

The contrast with the western grid is worth stating explicitly for anyone who works with both systems:

The most important difference for someone moving between the systems: Ontario descriptions require knowing the township name before anything else. There is no provincial-scale coordinate pair that uniquely identifies a concession and lot without the township.

Current Uses

Land Titles and Real Estate

The Ontario Land Registry system still uses lot-and-concession descriptions as the root description for every parcel that predates the Land Titles Act conversion. When a property has been subdivided, the resulting lots reference back to the parent lot-and-concession in the original geographic township. Even urban properties in cities like Peterborough, Belleville, and Sudbury trace their legal descriptions to the underlying geographic township survey.

For real estate professionals working in rural Ontario, lot-and-concession lookup is a routine skill. The legal description on a deed or transfer document links back to survey records held at the Land Registry Office for the relevant county or district.

For more on how land descriptions work in real estate transactions, see Legal Land Descriptions for Real Estate.

Mining in Northern Ontario

Northern Ontario's mining sector depends heavily on lot-and-concession references. The Ontario Ministry of Mines administers mineral tenure through the Mining Lands Administration System (MLAS), which uses geographic township lots and concessions as the basis for mining claim boundaries.

A mineral claim registered on "Lot 4, Concession 7, Township of Creighton" means something precise to a mining engineer or geologist who knows the township survey. Converting that reference to GPS coordinates is essential for field work, drill planning, and NI 43-101 technical reports.

For more on mining applications, see Legal Land Descriptions for Mining.

Agricultural Assessment and Insurance

Ontario's Agricultural Assessment data and crop insurance programs reference land by lot, concession, and township for parcels in agricultural areas. The Canada-Ontario Business Risk Management programs use these references to associate satellite imagery and yield data with specific parcels.

Common Mistakes and Gotchas

Multiple Townships with Similar Names

Ontario has many townships with similar or identical root names — Hastings County alone contains several townships named for the same colonial figures. A reference to "Lot 10, Concession 4, Township of Faraday" is unambiguous; a reference that omits the county context may require additional research to confirm the correct registry location.

Historical Township Name Changes

Some townships were renamed after Confederation or during twentieth-century municipal reorganization. A historical deed may cite a township name that no longer appears in current land registry records. Cross-referencing historical survey maps or the Ontario Geographic Names Board database is sometimes necessary.

Concession Orientation Variations

Not all Ontario townships are laid out with concessions running east-west. Some townships along diagonal rivers or irregular coastlines have concession lines at oblique angles. Assuming that Concession 1 always faces south or that lots always run north-south can produce errors in geographic calculations.

Broken Fronts and Irregular Lots

Concession 1 along a lake or river often contains irregular parcels — broken lots or water lots — that don't conform to the standard dimensions. Automated conversions that assume standard lot sizes will produce inaccurate results for these parcels.

How Township Canada Handles Ontario Lookups

Township Canada's Ontario geographic township converter allows lookup by lot, concession, and township name, returning GPS coordinates for the parcel centroid and a boundary polygon where survey data is available.

The system draws on Ontario's provincial land survey dataset and the geographic township index maintained by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Coverage is strongest for southern Ontario townships with complete digital survey records; northern Ontario coverage is improving as provincial digitization programs continue.

For common southern Ontario townships, the converter returns results immediately. For less common northern Ontario townships or historical townships that predate provincial digitization, the converter provides the township boundary and the estimated lot location based on the survey grid.

For more on Ontario land description lookups, see Ontario Lot and Concession Lookup.

Try a Real Lot and Concession Lookup

Enter Lot 15, Concession 3, Township of McNab into the Ontario geographic township converter to locate the parcel in Renfrew County. The result shows the estimated lot boundary within the township survey grid, the approximate GPS coordinates, and the surrounding concession context.

For mineral claim work in northern Ontario, try a township in the Sudbury or Timmins area — the converter handles major northern Ontario mining districts including Nickel Centre, Neelon, Garson, and the Porcupine camp townships.