I have today gained access to some great digital mapping – some of the best and most beautiful hand drafted cartography ever created. The below examples of early Ordnance Survey popular sheets have been professionally reproduced in digital form, and are a treasury of detail for those of us addicted to the work of those pioneering public surveyors and draftsman. Here we can see Brownhills and the surrounding area recorded over the course of four decades or so.
I believe this to be Third Edition, circa 1910. Surprisingly accurate. Look for the detail of the pits of the area. Click for a larger version.
This is most likely scanned from the Fifth Edition, around 1935-40. The evolution in style and technical precision in just 30 years is incredible. Click for a larger version.
I plan to feature more examples of these fascinating old maps in future posts, and will convert these to Google Earth overlays if readers would find that useful. In the meantime, peruse these at you leisure and feel free to comment on any interesting things you spot.
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Hi Bob
Great to see the railway and its branch lines in theses maps. Can really see the different stages of its life over the years. Great stuff!
Hi Bob,
These maps are wonderful, especially because the cancels and railway lines on are marked on them.
Me and the girlfriend was driving around Norton Canes the other day trying to find the old cancel and railway that used to run through the village.
We found where the cancel was and managed to track it from the A5 to Washbrooke lane but we wasn’t sure on the route of the railway. If you could lay these maps over Google Earth images that would be brilliant.
Steve