INTRODUCTION

Before the Ordnance Survey began mapping the country in the early nineteenth century, maps were usually made for special purposes and special needs only. Maps were needed by the following:

• governors to govern an area;
• town and transport planners and developers;
• army leaders to attack or defend an area;
• landowners to rent out parcels of their land to farmers and other tenants and to plan work;
• clergymen to administer within the boundaries of their parishes;
• merchants and travellers.

Before the Ordnance Survey produced their first 6-inch -to-the-mile maps in 1835, early maps were not always wholly accurate. The methods of early map-makers (surveyors) were not always accurate and often names of areas (including alternative names and spellings) were inaccurately recorded. Nevertheless, early maps can contain much useful information and some are surprisingly accurate in certain regards.