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.
Increasing numbers of maps are on the websites of record offices
The main places to find English and Welsh maps are county record offices, The). Its online catalogue Discovery can lead you to maps in local archives: . Other places to find maps are museums, the Parliamentary Archives in London and the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.
