1875 Wilts and Berks
Canal maps-West & North
Recently Vic suggested that he and I should employ our bus passes to
go to the Central Library in Oxford and photograph the high
resolution 1875 maps of the canal there (Vic had photocopied these
about 20 years ago).
We went this week, only to be told that the paper maps had been
moved to an archive. But the nice librarian showed us that they were
available on a computer as scanned images (only on computers
labelled 'Local and Family History' in the Reference section of the
Central Library). She said that as they were out of copyright, there
was no problem with us downloading the maps onto a USB drive. Vic
had a list of the necessary maps, so I downloaded them.
The originals are at 2,500:1 or 25.3 inches to the mile. They show
plenty of detail, including milestones, marked as MS.
There are 22 maps, mostly from the 1875 series, but I took three
from the 1899 series because the links to the 1875 versions of those
on the library computer were broken. There is also a 1912 series.
Only the maps of areas previously in North Berkshire, now in
Oxfordshire, were on the library computer. Maybe Wiltshire libraries
have the rest.
Jon Miles |