Tithe Maps and other resources

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Foxylady

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East Devon's Jurassic Park!
I attended a lecture tonight about historic landscapes of East Devon, and the professor who gave the talk spent three years investigating local landscapes using several resources, which he told us about. One of those resources was tithe maps, dating from 1840. These were made to insure that the church received the correct tithes, according to the fields and what was produced there. Some of the cartographers just went through the motions and only showed the dimensions, but others included dew ponds and lime quarries, many of which have since been filled in. Due to this project, many remains of old farms and deserted villages have been found and excavated. The tithe maps in East Devon have now been digitalized using GIS (Geographical Imaging System)...not an easy task, because many of them were huge, some as large as the hall we were sitting in, and had to be photographed by the National Coal Board who have the means to digitally photograph mining maps, which are also huge.

Anyway, these and elsewhere can be found by googling Parishscapes Tithe maps. Also Historic landscape Characterisation (I've just checked, and several counties have this resource).

Another resource is the Disappeared Houses Recording Sheet, again dated from 1840.

The Historic Landscapes Maps also provide data which answer questions about the environment. One of the examples which Professor Kayne gave was orchards in Devon, showing that 3% orchard coverage was in East Devon alone, more than anywhere else in Devon...much to my delight! :p:mrgreen:

Two things that he said was, to find as many resources as you can...maps, photos, paintings of the era, and archaeology...and also that councils spend a lot of money funding these historic resources which are quite extensive and very useful, but they don't bother to advertise the fact, so it's a case of trawling through the net to find them.

So, to reiterate...look for Tithe Maps and Historical Landscape Characterisation.

Hope that's clear and helps with looking for info about remains.

Cheers. :)
 
I totally agree Foxy I use maps in research regularly.Have a look at this one its a belter,its from the British Museum collection and covers the whole country.Use the box on bottom right to move around and no I have no idea why it always starts of cantered on Newark on Trent.

http://visionofbritain.org.uk/maps/results.jsp?xCenter=3303053.6514776&yCenter=2967305.3591133&scale=63360&mapLayer=nineteenth&subLayer=first_edition&title=Ordnance%20Survey%20and%20Ordnance%20Survey%20of%20Scotland%20First%20Series
 
That's a great link, Oldscrote. Cheers for that. The professor showed some early ordnance survey maps too, so this is another excellent source of where things used to be. :)
 
I regularly use a lot of this kind of resource - always been fascinated by maps/mapping!

Anyway, coverage of Cheshire is available via: http://maps.cheshire.gov.uk/tithemaps/

Conveniently you can view the tithe maps with OSGB mapping from the 1870's, early 1900's and aerial survey of 1970. The 2000 'getmapping' aerials are also available on the same display

Some good map resources for Lancashire online: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/oldmap/ and http://mario.lancashire.gov.uk/agsmario/

Dorset coastline with aerial photography, OS mapping and 'tithe' maps: http://map.dcda.org.uk/dcda/display.php

Limited coverage of Norfolk: http://www.noah.norfolk.gov.uk/default.aspx but more coverage at: http://www.historic-maps.norfolk.gov.uk/Emap/EmapExplorer.asp

Looked like Sussex was going to get good coverage a few years ago but things don't seem to have progressed: http://www.geog.sussex.ac.uk/grc/info/airphotos-historic/

oh, and google maps have recently started adding some 1930's and 1940's aerial coverage though it's currently patchy and confusing (as it seems to be a mix of MoD and OS aerial photography and the OS was censored to remove strategic military sites)

Canmore have the 1980's aerial survey of Scotland, along with quite a lot of 1940's coverage available online at: http://aerial.rcahms.gov.uk/worldwide/Scotland.php
 
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I can vouch for the value of http://mario.lancashire.gov.uk/agsmario/ otherwise known as MARIO, as mentioned by tigger2. Especially the way you can overlay different settings, including old aerial photos from 1940 and 1960. The only snag is it covers the new Lancashire boarder rather than the older one which included Greater Manchester and parts of Cumbria.

For old ordnance survey maps across Britain, rather than the well known 'old-map' source, try http://www.ponies.me.uk/maps/osmap.html first, then jump to the map you like after homing in on the area you wish to browse. Don't use the drop down list but use the navigation tools on the map itself and zoom in. In the right column you get a description of the background ordnance survey map in use. Several out of copyright Ordnance Survey maps are used, ranging from around 1925 to 1945. To track old railway lines or other markings removed from the modern landscape, try clicking on the "Satellite" button. The central transparent map then switches to the old ordnance survey maps. There are still some gaps in the maps across Britain (e.g. South Wales and Lincoln unfortunately) but most areas are covered.

Happy hunting...
 
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Interesting to read about old maps on this site. I have been using just such maps for years in an effort to find old roads...the First edition ordnance survey maps, or Mudge Maps being a very good source. I bought my ones from Charles & Charles well before the inernet got going. I also enjoy the old Bartholemew cotton maps that I come across every now & again in old bookshops. I used to have old Herbert maps together with Cary maps framed & hanging up in my hall, stairs & landing until my missus got fed up with looking at old maps of Kent & longed to look at ones of Sussex...so they came down.
 
Cheers, Caveman. I know just what you mean about using maps. I can't get enough of them. :mrgreen:
There's a fantastic craft/book/coffee shop in Charmouth and they have a whole shelf section full of old OS Maps. It's like a magnet whenever I go in. :lol:
 
That is interesting I found the maps for 1851 showing where I live and Fairmile hospital is just a field with No buildings on. Must see if I can print off the whole map and stick it together. It shows road or tracks which no longer exsist. Thanks for that Foxy and Tigger2
 

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