Maps for historians – sources.
Compiled by Alan Ruston, 2011
The number of books describing and including reproductions of maps of Britain and its counties is very
large with more appearing regularly. The following small selection should be of interest to the local and
family historian.
Maps for Historians, Paul Hindle, Phillimore, 1998 with reprint, £14.99, hardback 148 pages. The best
survey of the field for any type of historian. Much recommended.
English Maps: A history, Catherine Delano-Smith and Roger Kain, The British Library, 1999, £19.95,
paperback, 320 pages. A superb survey with numerous illustrations. A comprehensive bibliography
included.
Maps for Family and Local History, The Records of the Tithe, Valuation Office and national Farm
Survey of England and Wales 1836-1943, Geraldine Beech and Rose Mitchell, £12.99 Second Edition,
National Archives, 2004. The three great land surveys described here provide information on an
ancestor’s home as well as a historical snapshot of an area.
Map your past, Family History Monthly, November 2008, p 24-29, Alan Ruston.
Modern copies of historic maps
Besides the OS, there were many commercial map providers in the 19th century, modern copies of which
can be obtained from various sources. Most local archive centres have maps available for purchase in a
variety of formats.
Old House Books, Sutton Mead, Moretonhampstead TQ13 8PW has street maps for specific areas of
England and Wales. www.oldhousebooks.co.uk
London Topographical Society (www.topsoc.org) is devoted to maps and views of London. It has
produced six A-Z maps of London at various periods – Elizabethan, Restoration, Georgian, Regency,
Victorian (Bacon, 1888) The Edwardian version (Bacon 1912) is fully indexed and includes parts of
Hertfordshire.
Motco Enterprises (www.motco.com) of Guildford, Surrey GU5 0UB has various large scale maps
available on disc, indexed, and a commentary, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, priced at £27.50
including p&p.
Godfrey’s Maps (www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk) covers the whole country. There are over 2000
available from the the Ordnance Survey maps from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Valuable websites
British Library www.bl.uk/collections/maps - a comprehensive guide to the whole field from a source
which possesses one of the largest map collections in the world.
National Library of Scotland www.nls.uk/maps is a big bonus for those with Scottish interests as it has
large OS maps (1847-1895) available digitally.
National Library of Wales www.llgc.org.uk/collections/maps provides a valuable survey of the map in
Wales, and is particularly good in describing tithe maps.
Map and plan collections on line www.archivemaps.com to see for free, covering the country, including
London Stanford 1862
Cassini www.cassinimaps.com allows you to order maps for specific areas online for different periods
from the early 19th century onwards.
The London Metropolitan Archive has an extensive collection covering beyond the capital –
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk