Help with OS map symbols

[Brassey]

 

I wonder if anyone can help me identify some symbols from an early 1900's OS map upon which I have superimposed my track layout with the help of Templot.

 

There are two S shaped symbols which I have marked A and B.  I assume these might identify an incline or a ramp.  There is indeed a dock near symbol A which is visible on pictures.  This however does not appear to be a cattle dock in pictures.  

 

There is also a building here marked C.  So additionally, I wondered what this structure might be near a dock.  There are sheds on the platform and what I think is platelayers hut further along the line so it can't be those.  There was a crane nearer the station so I think it's a bit remote to be a goods shed.

 

On photos it initially looked like a van at the end of a siding to me, so it could be a grounded body but is the early 1900's too early for such a thing?

 

There is a picture of the station here, it is Berrington and Eye on the LNWR/GWR Joint Shrewsbury to Hereford line:

 

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABerrington_%26_Eye_railway_station_1805158_3bba41d1.jpg

 

 

[PaulWarb]

Hi

 

I don't think I can help with the buidling but I might be able to shed some light on the OS map symbol.  I believe this is connected with what were called parcel areas.  The land on rural OS maps was divided into "parcels" each with a unique number and area measurement. 

The elongated S  "Area Brace Symbol" It means that the fields etc either side of the line (this might be a hedge , a fence etc) are in the same parcel.

Sometimes with double features (like a hedge beside a ditch) you have double brace symbols. These mean that the parcels edge is along the middle of the two lines.

 

Hope this helps

[Douglas G]

There is a legend and guide to symbols on early 1900s OS maps here, which includes the 1:2500 series:

 

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/faq.html#symbols

 

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/histmaps_legend_countyseries_1-2500.pdf

 

Like you at one time I thought the S shaped symbols (called braces on the legend) denoted a slope as they are on boundaries, but in fact they show where enclosed pieces of land are to be considered together for the areas of land parcels shown on the map.

 

I don't think these are ramps or raised areas, just enclosed areas of land inside a fence and their area is to be considered as part of the area of this parcel of land (numbered 245 and covering 7.932 acres).  I suspect the building is a platelayers hut or similar, as the lack of a fence between it and the track suggests it was on railway property.

 

I have found a very useful feature of these early OS maps is the surface levels and Bench Mark spot heights on roads and bridges, which are useful guide to relative heights in the landscape.

 

 

Douglas

[Armchair Modeller]

C looks like a small shed with a fenced or walled area immediately next to it. OS maps show buildings hatched, like the buildings next to the letters HB. A crossed hatching denotes a glass covering, like a greenhouse.

 

Grounded bodies are as old as railways, just about. C looks a bit small for anything like that though - maybe it is something like a small shed, for a smallholding, allotment or a garden?

[DonB]

I believe that the curly elongated "S" marking indicates a connection between two or more features or structures which have some sort of physical difference. The shapes at "A" and "B" could be just significantly different heights of an elongated platform. 

Without a scale it is difficult to say what item "C" is,but in the linked photo it does look like a van body, although rather more central than the map shows. 

[Douglas G]

Looking at the Wikipedia photo, I think it is indeed a loading dock of some kind.

 

If you put in the OS grid reference into the Old Maps website search box, you should find a range of maps which may help:

 

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/index.html

[Brassey]

 

Thanks all for your help and it now seems clearer.  Having magnified some fairly faint old photos I agree that this is probably an agricultural building in this area; the symbols having no railway significance.  I can just make out some livestock, maybe pigs that would be in a fenced off area just behind the dock.  Cheers  Peter