Читать книгу Collins Tracing Your Scottish Family History - Ryan Tubridy, Anthony Adolph - Страница 43

One of the finest graphic sources for your family history, often showing your family’s actual homes, are Ordnance Survey maps. Many, both current and historical (dating back over the last two hundred years), are found at local archives.

The Survey was sparked by Bonnie Prince Charlie’s rebellion, known as the ‘45, when King George II’s generals realized they had no serviceable maps of the realm (those that existed stopped at county boundaries, so were useless for military purposes). Between 1747 and 1755 William Roy of the Royal Engineers organized a survey of Scotland, and in 1791 the creation of accurate topographical maps of all Britain began. The Trigonometrical Survey, renamed the Ordnance Survey, created maps to different scales; the most detailed (such as the 1:25,000 Explorer series) will show the shapes of fields and general shape of buildings in the countryside, and the town plans go to sufficient scale to see door steps and bay windows.

It’s hard to date the maps to specific years. A map ‘of 1880’ may have been surveyed a decade before. Some maps showing railways are actually much older maps with new railway lines engraved over the top. This is not a problem if you are aware of the issues and take time to find out the history of the particular map you are studying. For help contact The Ordnance Survey’s Library (Room C454, Ordnance Survey, Romsey Road, Southampton, SO16 4GU, 0845 605 0505, www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk). See also www.Old-Maps.co.uk, where you can search and zoom in on Britain’s Ordnance Survey County Series, 1:10,560 scale, First Edition maps (surveyed from 1846-99).