Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
survey of Guadeloupe ('
Low Land
'
) and a hunting map of part of Spain (
A-hunting we will
including wastes, moorland and marshes of little or no agricultural use, and so they fill in the
gaps between estate maps. Tithe Survey maps were made for many parishes in England and
Wales in the mid 19th century (see the Cornish example
The obelisk, the pheasantry and the
blacksmith
)
. The demise of the purpose-made estate plan came with the wide availability of
printed large-scale maps, which could be customised by means of manuscript additions. The
archives holds two later national surveys taken after the Tithe Survey; the Valuation Office
Survey of around 1910 and the National Farm Survey made in the Second World War, which
both used the latest Ordnance Survey maps, marked with hand-drawn survey detail.
The fascination of these maps of estates and the wider land lies in their portrayal of
changes in the rural landscape, and the way that they show features from different eras on
one sheet. Ancient footpaths and drove-roads connect abandoned settlements, alongside long-
empty canals and turnpike roads. Old stones on remote moors stand within sight of church-
yards. Early open-cast mines and quarries rest alongside iron foundries and factories of the
Industrial Revolution. The sea overwhelms or recedes from the land, leaving submerged
villages or dry sea ports. Whether village green or market square, forest or river course,
where there are successive maps we can gauge the pace of change in these places. These
maps, along with related textual records, contribute to our understanding of how countryside
evolved, and allow us in imagination to step into the landscapes of times past.
