Historic maps – Who do you think you are?

Get more from maps

Gill Blanchard reveals the historic maps and plans from the 1500s to the 1900s that will transform your family research

This apportionment for Stratford St Andrew, Suffolk, from 1846 is held by TNA and on TheGenealogist

Maps allow us to step back in time to build up a picture of our ancestors’ lives, homes and communities. They enable us to discover where people lived and worked, who owned or rented land and property, when buildings were constructed, and who their employers, landlords and neighbours were. Maps can add to our knowledge of local and national events by showing the impact of developments such as roads, canals and railways, the growth of new industries and decline of others. Comparing maps from the late 1700s and early 1800s for instance may reveal when what had once been green fields were transformed into suburbs and streets with houses. For example, Faden’s 1797 map of Norfolk shows extensive commons, heaths and warrens that had largely disappeared within 15 years.

A Vast Range Of Coverage

The most useful maps for family, house and local historians are land, estate and manorial surveys; insurance, county, city and town maps; enclosure and tithe maps; and maps for road, canal and railway projects. There are even maps charting sickness, poverty, social class and housing conditions, along with plans to combat problems via public works such as drainage and sewerage.

The main places to find English and Welsh maps are county record offices, The National Archives at Kew (TNA), the National Library of Wales (NLW) and the British Library. For example, TNA has manorial, enclosure, tithe and Ministry of Housing maps, local-government plans, and maps relating to public works and institutions (nationalarchives.gov.uk/maps). Its online catalogue Discovery can lead you to maps in local archives: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Other places to find maps are museums, the Parliamentary Archives in London and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.

Increasing numbers of maps can be found on the websites of record offices. Online collections can also be found on other history websites – for example, British History Online’s primary and secondary sources (british-history.ac.uk), A Vision of Britain Through Time’s historical information about places (visionofbritain.org.uk), and the London Lives manuscript collection (londonlives.org). The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has an online collection of UK Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, Bartholomew’s half-inch maps of England and Wales (1902–1906), some insurance maps and soil surveys, as well as maps only relating to Scotland (maps.nls.uk).

Increasing numbers of maps are on the websites of record offices

TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk) has the most comprehensive maps collection of all of the commercial websites. This includes tithe maps for England and Wales and some OS maps. The company is also digitising and indexing the maps and field books for the English and Welsh Inland Revenue Valuation Office Survey (1910–1915).

The earliest known map of the world is about 3,000 years old and held at the British Museum. The Gough Map created c1375 is the oldest for the British Isles. It is kept at the Bodleian Library, and there is a digital interactive copy at www.goughmap.org. Most early maps were created for travellers, military purposes and to identify personal, manorial and religious estates. Many early route and place maps are based on travellers’ stories rather than the map-maker’s personal knowledge.

A small number of English and Welsh maps of use for family, house and local-history research survive from the 1400s, but the majority exist from the mid-to-late 1500s when mapmaking techniques were refined making them cheaper and more commercially viable. The first county maps were produced by Christopher Saxton in the 1570s. Large numbers created over the next 200– 300 years were paid for by subscribers. Town and city maps began to proliferate mainly in the 1700s.

However, privately funded maps were often not to scale and did not include every feature, while subscribers’ properties may be the only ones shown or be given extra prominence.

6 Essential Maps For Family Historians

The six types of map that will help you research your forebear’s life back to the 17th century

ENCLOSURE MAPS

Enclosure maps showing who was allotted common lands and the neighbourhood exist from the 1500s, although you should note that the majority were created after 1801.

COVERAGE More than 5,200 enclosure bills were agreed between 1604 and 1914, together covering just over a fifth of the area of England (about 6.8 million acres).

AVAILABILITY Regional collections can be found at county record offices; some are also online. There is a national collection at TNA as well.

ORDNANCE SURVEY MAPS

OS maps began in 1745 for military purposes. They are guaranteed to be to scale, and include all local features from the 1800s. They are at larger scales and most useful from the mid-to-late 1800s.

COVERAGE There is good survival for England, Scotland and Wales.

AVAILABILITY Collections can be found at county record offices. The maps are freely available at the National Library of Scotland’s maps website maps.nls.uk/os.

LLOYD GEORGE DOMESDAY SURVEY

The Inland Revenue Valuation Office Survey of England and Wales ended in 1915.

COVERAGE There is a nationwide list of owners and occupiers, land and property descriptions, although unfortunately some of the records were destroyed.

AVAILABILITY There are working copies of maps and registers at record offices, and completed map and field books at TNA which are now being digitised by TheGenealogist (thegenealogist.co.uk).

SALE PARTICULARS

These advertised properties and lands for sale or rent, and often include maps that feature neighbours and other landowners as well.

COVERAGE Coverage is variable from the 1700s to the present day.

AVAILABILITY Try the collections of auctioneers, estate agents and solicitors that are held at country record offices. You may also find related advertisements published in historic newspapers.

NATIONAL FARM SURVEY

This survey of farms, market gardens and other agricultural holdings took place in 1941–1943. Each was plotted onto OS maps. Four forms recorded owners and tenants, crops and livestock, and described buildings.

COVERAGE All holdings in England and Wales of over five acres were surveyed, about 300,000 in total.

AVAILABILITY Maps and forms are available at TNA.

TITHE MAPS

These were introduced in 1836 when the payment system was overhauled to show every plot. Apportionments list the plots’ owners, occupiers, size and valuations. There are three copies: parish, diocesan and one for the commissioners.

COVERAGE They were largely completed by 1851; some maps were amended later.

AVAILABILITY Record offices and TNA have collections, and TheGenealogist (the genealogist.co.uk) has digitised copies. Welsh records are freely available at the National Library of Wales’ dedicated website places.library.wales.

Manorial And Estate Maps

Manorial and estate maps are the oldest to record the owners and tenants of land and buildings over hundreds of years. The amount of detail varies but in combination with other manorial and estate documents they may enable you to trace who owned and lived in a property, track landscape changes, date building developments, and uncover changes affecting people’s lives.

A colourised version of an 1807 map of Pebmarsh held by Essex Record Office

For example, a 1796 estate map for Pebmarsh, Essex, names the owner and tenants while another from 1807 shows the site of George Courtauld’s silk mill. A set of plans for the Harvey estate in Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, from 1856 includes

drawings of a new foundry and cottages, and details of a roadwidening scheme. In contrast, an estate map of Aylesford, Kent, drawn up in 1700 shows the former priory lands redistributed after its dissolution with the names of owners and adjoining landowners. These maps can be found at TNA and record offices, and in private estate archives as well as Oxford University and Cambridge University libraries.

One helpful national collection is enclosure (or inclosure) records. The maps were created to facilitate the process of enclosing common lands and end the traditional strip-farming system in order to improve agricultural efficiency. This could only occur if a majority of parish landowners agreed and via a private Act of Parliament. The 1801 Enclosure Act ended the necessity to obtain an Act, and the process was simplified further in 1845.

Enclosure maps show each numbered plot of land allotted to new owners. The accompanying awards describe each plot, including its size and location; whether it was copyhold of a manor, freehold or another type of tenure; adjoining boundaries; landowners; and roads. The awards also recorded public bridleways, footpaths, watercourses, drains, public wells, field boundaries, and which plots were designated for the allocation of rents and profits for the poor. Copies were made for local parish officials and the enclosure commissioners. Local copies are generally at county record offices; the commissioners’ are at TNA.

A Map-Making Boom

A surge of map-making occurred from the second half of the 18th century propelled by the emergence of an integrated national economy, improved transport systems, military threats from abroad and the spread of enlightenment ideas promoting understanding of the world via science and observation. Social and political reforms in the 19th century resulted in maps being created in response, such as those showing new electoral wards and workhouse unions’ districts.

Among them was the 1836 Tithe Commutation Act which overhauled the unpopular tithepayment system by allowing a one-off payment to be made. Tithes were originally an agreed proportion of produce used to maintain the parish church and priest. Not every area was subject to paying tithes, and some parishes had already commuted payments when enclosure took place. Following the Act, each plot of tithable land was drawn onto a map and numbered. The accompanying apportionment listed owners and occupiers, and noted the size of each plot, type of land and its valuation. They did not have to record buildings as it was land that was being assessed.

The process of recording tithable lands was largely finished by 1851, although some of the maps were amended later. From 1837, only signed and sealed copies were considered proof of accuracy. These comprise around one sixth of the total surviving. Another overhaul took place in 1936, and tithe payments were abolished in the 1970s.

Three copies of tithe maps and apportionments were made. Two were given to the parish and the diocesan registrar, and are usually held in local archives. The third was retained by the tithe commissioners and is at TNA, and has been digitised and indexed by TheGenealogist. The records can be seen on its site and on the computers at TNA.

Using The Maps On The NLS’s Website

Learn how to search the thousands of maps that are available for free on the National Library of Scotland’s website maps.nls.uk

1 To access the map collections on the nls.uk site, click ‘Digital resources’ on the menu bar on the homepage. On the next page, click ‘Map images’ in the left-hand panel. Or you can go straight to maps.nls.uk.

2 Click the ‘Map Finder – with Marker Pin’ link to view a page where you can search the site’s maps for a location. Start typing a name in the ‘Search Places’ field and choose one of the website’s suggestions.

3 You will now see a zoomed-in map centred on your chosen location. You can zoom in further or zoom out using the scroll wheel on your mouse, or by clicking the magnification controls at the bottom left.

4 To switch to a different map than the default one, click its name next to the search panel and choose from the list; click the thumbnail of one of the large-scale maps on the right; or use the ‘Filters’ panel.

5 Click the ‘Side by Side’ link at the top of the screen to view the location on two adjacent maps. Here you can see North Marston on an Ordnance Survey map (1885–1900) and a modern satellite map.

6 The sidebar of the maps homepage contains a link to maps.nls.uk/os. This is a dedicated portal to the library’s digitised Ordnance Survey maps and explains their scale, date and geographic coverage.

TOP TIP!

Check neighbouring parishes and the records of landowners who lived elsewhere because their sale particulars, estate records and deeds may include maps for several parishes.

Uncovering The Story Of A House

Gill explains how she used maps to research a house in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk

I began with the map created for the Inland Revenue Valuation Office Survey (1910– 1915), which I found in The National Archives at Kew (TNA). Although the field book does not survive, I was able to identify the owner and occupier by checking the plot number against the survey register held at Norfolk Record Office (NRO). The house can be seen on earlier Ordnance Survey (OS) maps, and a railway plan of 1853, although the landowner was not named because the property fell outside the affected area.

I used the tithe and enclosure maps and award of 1813 to find out who owned it and narrow down when the house was built. Copies of these are at NRO and TNA.

This tithe map dates from 1838 and shows the house and outbuildings on plot 329

The tithe map was published in 1838 and the accompanying apportionment listing owners and occupiers in 1844. The map shows the house and outbuildings on plot 329, and the owner Henry Tyrrell occupied it. He also owned and occupied two adjoining plots, 249 and 250. Two structures are shown on plot 259, with brace or ‘field tie’ symbols (shaped like a long S), meaning they belonged together. Unfortunately the apportionment does not mention the house or buildings, just the land, because that was what was being assessed. However, it does give the plot sizes in acres, rods and perches.

The enclosure map of 1813 for Wells-nextthe-Sea narrowed down when the house was built. Its site was not on common land, but it was next to an enclosed plot numbered 644. Although enclosure maps did not have to show properties, this one included all of the houses in the parish. There was no house on this plot in 1813, but the house was clearly in existence when the tithe map was created, so it must have been constructed between 1813 and 1838.

The description on the enclosure award revealed that a lane ran alongside this site, which formed the basis of the main road shown on later OS maps.

The Power Of OS Maps

OS maps from the 19th century can help us track how an area has changed over time, where people lived and worked, and when specific buildings first appeared. They were also the first maps guaranteed to be to scale. They began in 1745 for military purposes, but from the 1800s started to include all local features. The first large-scale surveys at 25 inches to the mile began in the 1870s. Revised editions were published from the 1890s, and a rolling programme of revisions began in 1928.

OS maps were the first maps guaranteed to be to scale

To obtain copies of old and new OS maps visit ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Some local archives and other organisations offer online access free or via subscription. Local archives have collections, and the NLS’s site has OS maps for the whole of the UK at maps.nls.uk/os.

The Inland Revenue Valuation Office Survey was the first national survey of ownership and occupancy of lands and properties since the Domesday Survey of 1086. It covered England and Wales between 1910 and 1915 (and Scotland up to 1920). It is often referred to by the nicknames ‘Second Domesday Survey’ and ‘Lloyd George Domesday Survey’ after the chancellor David Lloyd George who introduced it.

A 1796 estate map of Pebmarsh from Essex Record Office

The survey was undertaken as part of a plan to introduce a new land tax, which was never implemented. Existing OS maps were annotated with numbered plots that link to registers and field books listing the size and valuation of each plot with a list of owners. The amount of detail in the documentation can vary, especially after 1912 when the surveyors were ordered to speed up. However, the field books can include detailed descriptions of each building and its condition, with notes about when it was purchased and whether copyhold or freehold. Surviving working copies of English and Welsh maps and registers are held in county record offices. The completed maps and field books are at TNA, and these are being digitised and indexed by TheGenealogist.

OS maps were also annotated for the National Farm Survey of England and Wales (1941–1943). This was undertaken to assess the productivity of agricultural holdings as part of the drive for self-sufficiency during the Second World War. Like the Lloyd George Domesday Survey each holding was plotted onto a map and given a number. The accompanying forms provide details of the owner, who lived there, the type of farms, and descriptions of the buildings. They are at TNA.

WATCH OUT!

Many early maps don’t include every local feature. For example, estate maps may exclude anything outside their boundaries apart from the names of adjacent landowners.

Infrastructure And Social-Survey Maps

There are a large range of infrastructure and socialsurvey maps. Plans had to be made for any proposals for new railway lines, roads and canals and other waterways, or major changes to them, even if the proposals did not go ahead. However, road orders etc are often overlooked as a resource. They reveal the impact of such projects on local communities and usually list the landowners who would be affected, and sometimes their tenants. Many required an Act of Parliament to be approved or permission from local authorities. Copies can be found at the Parliamentary Archives, TNA, and among records of quarter and petty sessions in county archives, while proposals and meetings related to them were reported in local newspapers.

Many ‘special purpose’ maps were drawn up for medical or sociological il purposes such as areas of poverty, social status, housing conditions and crime. For example, Fowler’s Cholera Plan of Leeds (1833) shows the districts affected. One of the best-known is Charles Booth’s Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London (1886–1903), a streetby-street record of social class, income and housing conditions categorised in a series of 12 maps. Each category was assigned a colour, and the accompanying notes include descriptions made by the social investigators. For example, a note for Shoreditch in the East End says that “the whole locality is working class. Poverty is everywhere, with a considerable admixture of the very poor and vicious.” The survey is held at the

London School of Economics and a digital version can be accessed for free at booth.lse.ac.uk.

Other fascinating socialsurvey maps include those drawn up by Henry Mayhew in 1857 showing the statistical distribution of crimes such as rape, bigamy, prostitution and back-street abortion. Campaigning organisations such as the National Temperance League created maps in support of their campaigns or to gather information which provide insights into different areas. Maps were also created for supplying sewerage, water and gas.

Fire-insurance plans also provide insights into how large towns and cities changed between the 1880s and the 1970s. One main series is the UK-wide insurance plans produced by Charles E Goad Ltd between 1885 and 1968. Copies are online at maps.nls.uk/towns/goad and bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/firemaps/ fireinsurancemaps.html.

The 20th century saw the implementation of the largest ever housing programmes including council housing. Plans show new estates and towns, as well houses and streets marked out for slumclearance programmes, and what replaced them. There was further expansion of provisions for clean water and sewage disposal, and it is possible to find bomb maps showing the devastation caused by bombing during the Second World War as well as plans for the renewal of such areas.