This convention is also sometimes used for people's names. I can't think of exact examples, but it occurs well into the 20th century, like 50s, 60s.
As Chaoticidealism said, it's just a thing to indicate that the information isn't important - it could've been any town in ireland, the minor character is any Smith or Jones. I think books went away from this as there was an ambition toward realism with an increase in detail and specificity.
ed_212 t1_j7tb5nl wrote
Reply to Why do some books blank out arbitrary place names? by PangeanPrawn
This convention is also sometimes used for people's names. I can't think of exact examples, but it occurs well into the 20th century, like 50s, 60s.
As Chaoticidealism said, it's just a thing to indicate that the information isn't important - it could've been any town in ireland, the minor character is any Smith or Jones. I think books went away from this as there was an ambition toward realism with an increase in detail and specificity.