Historic County Maps

Map scales are expressed in fractions such as 1:50,000, more commonly known as a 1-inch map or one where a little over one inch equals one mile. The lower the second number in the fraction or the higher the number in the common expression means that you have the best map for detailed research. The ideal maps for county research are the 6-inch (1:10,560) through the 25-inch (1:2500).

General County Maps

Late-19th Century Maps

 The First edition of the Ordnance Survey maps was published between 1846-1899. It includes such details as nonconformist chapels. The 6-inch maps can be seen without charge at Old Maps. The 25-inch map of the area shown within the pink lines on the free map can be purchased by clicking on Buy A Map listed at the bottom of the screen.

The Old Maps site has a useful gazetteer, but the British History site will allow you to examine the 25-inch maps for 18 English towns and cities for free. The British History website also has some free historic maps. Many of the 25-inch maps in the First and Second editions of the Ordnance Survey are being reprinted at a reduced scale of 14-inch maps by Alan Godfrey. To see those already at the FHL, put Godfrey's name in the Author box in the main menu of their catalog. Locate under his name the subject ‘Ordnance Survey’ and the county you are interested in. If the county is not listed under that subject, see if there is one available here from the publisher, but these maps cost money to order. For a smaller but growing selection of 25-inch maps on CD-ROM, visit Digital Archives, which also costs money to order.

Mid-19th Century Maps

The FHL has produced online county maps for 1851 showing all of the jurisdictions of interest to the genealogical researcher, entitled "England and Wales Jurisdictions 1851," which is located at FamilySearch Maps. For further details, see locations.

Early-19th Century Maps

The earliest maps generated by the Ordnance Survey are known as the Old Series 1-inch maps. They were published between 1805-1873. Facsimiles were released in two versions in the 1970s. Despite the small scale, the dates when they were drawn and their easy availability make this collection important. The first version reprinted by David & Charles in 1971 consists of 110 sheets of flat maps. The second version published in 1975 by H. Margary with an introduction by J.B. Harley is available in 8 large volumes.

BYU has both versions of the Old Series 1-inch maps. The flat maps are probably the easiest to use and are found in the BYU map cases under G 5750s 6336 .G7. The 8 bound volumes of the second version are in the BYU Map Collection under Quarto G 1810 .04. See the next paragraph on using the second version.

The FHL has two sets of the 8 volumes for the second version. (FHL Q 942 E3os) The spines of the volumes provide some idea of the county coverage of each volume. The names of the counties appear on the title pages. Go to Figure 2, "Sheet Breakdown" in each volume for a general guide to the pages on which the desired location is to be found.

Mid/Late-18th Century Maps

The Royal English Atlas, reprinted by David & Charles in 1971, contains maps produced in 1749-1763, with later alterations made mainly in 1777-1778. This atlas is in the BYU Map Collection under Folio G 1808 .B63 1765a.

17th Century Maps

The principal mapmakers for the counties of England were J. Blaeu, John Norden, Christopher Saxton, and John Speed. Individual maps for various counties can be found in the catalogs of both libraries under their names. As far as general collections, BYU has facsimiles of a collection by J. Blaeu in their map case under G 5750s 1648 .B5, #1-21, and by John Speed in the same case under G 5750s 1676 .S6, #1-17. The FLH has a modern version of John Speed's atlas at a slightly reduced scale under FHL Q 942 E7sj. A reprint of his 1614 edition is filed under FHL 942 E3spe X Large Folio.

Specific County Maps

This section is a brief description of some of the useful maps available in both libraries for various counties mainly before 1800. To be more thorough, check the catalogs of the respective libraries under the name of the county and the subject of maps, watching especially for the surnames of some of the best compilers of maps in the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Andrews & Dury, Blaeu, Burdett, Chapman & Andre, Day & Masters, Donn, Faden, Gascoyne, Jefferys, Morden, Norden, Oliver, Prior, Rocque, Saxton, Speed, Taylor, Warburton, and Yates. Printed collections listed below often have maps from several of these compilers.