I’ve had a find I’m rather excited about, and I think I’m going to need reader help here. Over the weekend, I acquired a couple of maps from a dealer who puts to one side anything he knows I might be interested in. They are two identical 1951 1:25,000 scale Ordnace Survey maps of what would become sheet SK00, but are marked SK43/00, and show the area of Brownhills and surrounds identical to other SK00 versions.
What makes these sheets special – and unbeknown to the dealer – is that the previous owner was clearly interested in coal mining and geology. However, I’m not sure what’s going on with the markings: can anyone help? The first sheet it divided into a grid (measured, by hand) with marked numbers; there also appear to be sectors marked in possibly Roman numerals (LVII, LVII etc). This grid appears to conform to Magnetic North and graticule intersections, but not the OS grid. There are what I think may be geological fault lines marked in red pencil, and hand-shaded reliefs to the north of Chasewater. In pencil are marked coal measures at Catshill and Castlehill. The flow of some streams has been highlated, as have footpaths. Oddly, the 1974 West Midlands County boundary is marked – very accurately – in blue crayon. Triangulation points – not those of the Ordnance Survey – are also randomly marked.
Please study this map. It was used for something – serious research, maybe, maybe not – but I’d like to know what. I’m fascinated by the notes and marks. If anyone has any idea, please shout up. These are beautiful maps in themselves, which I’ll get scanned as soon as I can and make available for download in full as usual, but superimposed upon them is a fascinating series of codes and doodles. I’d love to know more…
Extract from Ordnance Survey sheet 43/00 1:25,000 map of Brownhills. Gorgeous mapping, but what of the added information on top? Click for a larger version. Full scan to come as soon as possible.