Website showing old maps.

[JeffP]

Sorry about this.

I used to have this website stored as a favourite, but my browser has deleted all my bookmarks.

It's not the one based in Scotland.

You could enter a town name and a gazetteer would open up. You selected the correct place, put a marker on a modern map of the area you were interested in, and it offered maps at varying scales from varying dates. About 150 years ago was the most, and up to 1:1250.

You could zoom, but going too far you were asked to subscribe.

Now I can no longer find the site.

Any ideas, anyone?

Oh, it would only work on a pc or laptop.

[johndon]

I assume you are referring to old-maps - it went offline in the last month or so.

[howardb]

I use the Scottish O/S map site which is on line and free. It has all the old UK maps that are available.

https://maps.nls.uk/os/25inch-england-and-wales/index.html

[Paul H Vigor]

For historic locations within Wales I use the Welsh Tithe Maps site from the National Library of Wales. It combines the 1840s tithe survey with vintage OS maps and satellite images - all zoomable. 

https://places.library.wales/

[Bill Radford]

https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/

 

https://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php#

 

A couple that I find of use and a thumbs-up for the Scottish O/S site.

[ejstubbs]

1 minute ago, Bill Radford said:

the Scottish O/S site

 

It's actually the National Library of Scotland's site, nothing to do with the OS.  They have maps from a number of other sources as well including Bartholomew maps, Admiralty charts and various pre-OS historical sources.  You can see the full list by clicking the first drop-down list in the "Choose maps" dialogue box on the "Map Finder" tab (beware: the list of available maps varies depending on where the background map is centred).  I discovered the other day that they even have WWI trench maps of Belgium and France!

 

The maps they can show are constrained by (a) which ones they have in the collection, and (b) whether they are out of copyright - which is particularly relevant for more recent OS maps (IIRC they're scanning OS maps from the early seventies at the moment).

[JeffP]

I think it was old maps.

Does anyone know why it went offline? It had very large scale maps of the Hexthorpe area of Doncaster, 1950's and 60's.

[Tim V]

https://www.landmark.co.uk/news-insights/blog/changes-to-old-maps-website/

 

Explains the position.

[sjp23480]

https://www.archiuk.com/archi/archi_maps.htm - provides a range of old maps of the UK, some of which are sourced from NLS.  Has a really useful slider feature to compare the old map to Google maps.

[JeffP]

I've tried NLS, the nearest I can find is a 1946 map with nowhere near the detail.

[ejstubbs]

Going by the description in your OP, the one you were thinking of was definitely old-maps.co.uk.  The link provided by Tim V explains why they withdrew the free access - basically, professional organisations were taking the mick.  It does say "If you are a consumer looking to purchase a one-off historical map you can still do this through our Promap platform."  How much that might cost, and how easy it is to use I have no idea.

 

13 hours ago, JeffP said:

It had very large scale maps of the Hexthorpe area of Doncaster, 1950's and 60's.

 

Would this 1:10,000 map of Doncaster Surveyed / Revised: 1958 to 1964, Published: 1966 any good for your purposes?

 

https://maps.nls.uk/view/189183372

[JeffP]

Thanks, I've seen that one and the detail is lacking from the 1:1250 series.

[ejstubbs]

Ah, I thought you said you'd only been able to find a 1946 map.

 

You could try looking on the NLS web site to see if they have a paper copy of the map you want.  If they do then it might be worth a trip to take a look at it (they usually allow you to photograph selected bits of their material for research purposes).  If the trip would be too far then maybe some kind soul who lives locally and who has an NLA card might be able to help?

 

Or you could investigate the Promap option.

 

Edit to add: this is the web page for the NLS maps reading room: https://www.nls.uk/using-the-library/reading-rooms/maps/

Edited December 2, 2021 by ejstubbs

[Tim V]

Here in my area we have http://www.kypwest.org.uk/ a fantastic resource, complete with slider. Maps from tithe up to date.

 

Maybe you need to think outside the box. For example, if it is your area, your local council/record library may have the maps you want. You might have to travel.

 

Pre internet, this was virtually the only way to get mapping.

[cliff park]

We have something similar run by Norfolk County Council. Try this link http://www.historic-maps.norfolk.gov.uk/mapexplorer/  . It may come up with an error about non-secure link, but it works fine. Obviously it only covers Norfolk, back to tithe maps, but there could well be similar maps from other councils, I don't know how you would find them. 

[JeffP]

22 hours ago, Tim V said:

Here in my area we have http://www.kypwest.org.uk/ a fantastic resource, complete with slider. Maps from tithe up to date.

 

Maybe you need to think outside the box. For example, if it is your area, your local council/record library may have the maps you want. You might have to travel.

 

Pre internet, this was virtually the only way to get mapping.

I think this may be my way forward. Doncaster is around 25 miles.

The info may be held at the archives, which are housed in a disused Edwardian primary school, itself very interesting.