Devon - Maps

A superb, indeed definitive, set of maps showing parish boundaries, on a one inch to the mile scale, is now available on CD-ROM - see:

Kain, R.J.P., Oliver, R.R., Historic Parishes of England and Wales: an Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata [computer file]. Colchester, Essex: History Data Service, UK Data Archive [distributor], 17 May 2001. SN: 4348.

The Devon Local Studies Library (the Westcountry Studies Library) provides reproductions of a superb set of historic maps (archived partial copy), including Greenwood's one inch to a mile maps of 1827, Donn's one inch to the mile maps of 1765, and Saxton's 1575 map. Sections of Donn's map are used to illustrate the Library's historic parish pages (archived copy).

Genmaps provides a large collection of scans of old maps of Devon.

Know Your Place: West of England- "a digital heritage mapping resource to help you to explore your neighbourhood online through historic maps, collections and linked information". The maps employed include:  Tithe maps (c.1840s), OS maps (25” 1st, 2nd, 3rd / revised editions c.1880s – 1930s), and OS Town Plans (1:500, c.1890s). The website now contains Tithe and OS Maps, OS Town Plans and Goad Fire Insurance plans for Devon - see the explanatory introduction for advice on how to use resource.

FamilySearch's Maps facility can be used to find parishes and see their parish boundaries overlaid on a modern Ordnance Survey map

Scrollable high definition scan of Cambridge University's proof version of the first (1611/1612) John Speed Map of Devonshire.

British History Online's 19th century 1:10560 scale maps of Devon.

Outline Map of Devonshire, showing main towns and parish boundaries.

Devon FHS's Devon Parish Finder Map.

Schematic large-scale maps of Devon showing (ancient) parish boundaries:

Detailed maps from the 1885 Report of the Boundary Commissioners: Northern Section, Southern Section, and Eastern Section, showing boundaries of Parliamentary Boroughs, Petty Sessional Divisions, and proposed Parliamentary Divisions.

High definition scans of the entirety of Benjamin Donn's 1765 Map of Devon, from Wikipedia.

North Devon section of Benjamin Donn's 1765 Map of Devon. (272kb)

A very clear and detailed map of (South) Devon 1883/4, is provided by Nicolas Adams.

Devon in 1840 - a series of maps, redrawn from tithe maps, with place-names added, are available from Martin Ebdon Maps. (As of April 2021 just North Devon is covered, using information from over 150 tithe maps.)

Devon County Council provides maps, covering the different areas of Devon, showing (modern) parish locations:

Devon section of Genmaps - David Bax's very useful collection of links to online versions of old maps.

Devon maps in the National Library of Scotland's collection of high quality digitizations of old maps of England and Wales. (You will need to close the Help page which automatically opens.)

The Tithe Maps of the East Devon AONB - a large set of high definition images, provided by the Parishscapes project.

Batten, K. and Bennett, F. The Printed Maps of Devon, Exeter, Devon Books (1996).

Batten, K. and Bennett, F. The Printed Maps of Devon (2nd edition), Exeter, Devon Books (2008) [Internet version].

Batten, Kit and Bennett, Francis. The Victorian Maps of Devon, Printed Maps 1838-1901, Exeter, Devon Books (2000) xxxvi + 196 pp.

Few, Janet. Martin Ebdon’s Historical ‘Devon in 1840’ maps, Devon Family Historian, vol. 179 (2021) p.42. [A review]

Greenwood, C & J. Map of the county of Devon from an actual survey made in the years 1825 & 1826 [CD-ROM.], by . Facsimile of 1827 vol.  [SoG Library CD-ROM cabinet (DE/GEN)]

Jerrett, Beth. Know Your Place West of England - Putting Devon on the Map, Devon Family Historian, vol. 167, (2018) pp.29.

Kain, Roger and Ravenhill, William. Historical Atlas of South-West England. Exeter University Press (1999) 584p. 395 maps, 150 ill. [ISBN: 0 85989 434 7]
["This is the first historical atlas of a major region of the United Kingdom. Its aim is to create and communicate the history of the south-western peninsula of England-Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly-from the beginnings of man's occupation to the present day. The cartographic message projected by around 400 maps is extended by a substantial text of about 250, 000 words as well as diagrams, contemporary prints and photographs."]

Ravenhill, Mary R. and Rowe, Margery M., (Ed.). Early Devon Maps: maps of lands and estates in Devon before 1700, Exeter, Devon Books (2000) vi, 58 pp.. ill. (chiefly col.). maps (chiefly col.) [ISBN: 1855227282].

Ravenhill, Mary R. and Rowe, Margery M., (Ed.). Devon Maps and Mapmakers: Manuscript maps before 1840, Exeter, Devon & Cornwall Record Society (2002) 2 vols. [ISBN: 0901853433] [Devon FHS Library 912.435].

Ravenhill, Mary R. and Rowe, Margery M., (Ed.). Maps of Georgian Devon, Friends of Devon Archives (2003) [ISBN 1-85522-857-2].

Devon 1827 - Greenwoods Maps Surveyed 1825/6 - 1" to 1 mile. CD 0292, ArchiveCD (2001).

County Maps - Cornwall, Devon, Somerset & Dorset ArchiveCD (2003). [Devon county maps 1695, 1831, 1837, 1844]

UK and Ireland: Maps

• The Great Britain Historical Geography Information Service (GBHGIS) provides a mass of information about Britain's localities as they have changed over time. Information comes from census reports, historical gazetteers, travellers' tales and historic maps.
• A Vision of Britain Through Time, in the GBHGIS, provides maps and statistical information derived from census reports covering the period 1801-2001, searchable by place name or post code.
• The Landmark Information Group sell online 19th Century Ordnance Survey maps linked from an extensive gazetteer. These are at a scale of 1:10,560 (6 inches to the mile) and cover all of Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales).
• Maps showing the counties in England, Scotland and Wales and in Ireland prior to the 1974 re-organisation (1975 for Scotland). These maps show the familiar three-letter Chapman Codes.
• The National Library of Scotland provides scanned map images of various series of Ordnance Survey maps of Scotland, England and Wales from the mid-19th century to 1970s.
• Catalogue of British Town Maps - "locates town maps extant in UK public archives and libraries. It provides details of almost 8,000 maps and provides for each the key cartographical and other features and the location of publicly-accessible exemplars. Associated with each catalogue entry is a PDF image outlining the area covered by the map."
  •  Kain, R.J.P. and Oliver, R. British Town Maps: A History. British Library Publishing Division (2015) 240 pp. [ISBN-10: 0712357297]
• Genmaps - a very large collection of scanned maps of England, Wales and Scotland.
• Old Maps Online: "the easy to use gateway to historical maps online in libraries around the world".
• County maps (archived copy) showing the parish boundaries, the probate jurisdiction, and the date of commencement of registers, are available from The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.
• The Bodleian Library Map Room.
• Streetmap.co.uk provides up-to-date street maps for all of mainland Britain. A similar service is provided by Multi Media Mapping and Bing.
• A modern map of the United Kingdom.
• The Association of British Counties website includes a very useful map showing the 86 historic counties of Great Britain.
• Alan Gresley provides a set of high quality scans of maps from Baedeker's Great Britain (archived copy), Handbook for Travelers by Karl Baedeker (7th ed., 1910).
• Geography and National Statistics - explanatory pages from The Office of National Statistics
• Cassini publish historical Ordnance Survey maps of England and Wales that have been scanned, digitally re-projected and enlarged to match the present-day Landranger © series - and provide Mapmaker, a web-based search facility that allows a user to centre a map on a postcode or placename, ready for downloading or printing.
• Francis Frith sells Victorian county maps, by the Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis.
• British Isles Maps and Views - "free access to high quality scans of rare and beautiful antique maps and views", from MAPCO.
• Detailed scans of 1950s Ordnance Survey Maps - the New Popular Edition (in England and Wales), and the earlier sheets from the 7th Edition (in Scotland / Northern England).
• Detailed scan of the Map of England & Wales by S. Lewis & Co., London c1840, provided by MAPCO.
• Digimap - a subscription service available to UK Higher Educational Institutions that provides online access to "all available County Series maps at 1:2,500 and 1:10560 scales published between 1843 and 1939; and all available National Grid maps at 1:1,250, 1:2,500 and 1:10560/10,000 scales published from 1945".
• FamilySearch's Maps facility can be used to find parishes and see their parish boundaries overlaid on a modern Ordnance Survey map.
• Advice for family historians, concerning the use of maps and gazeteers, from the History of Cartography pages in WWW-Virtual Library:History.
• Maps for Family and Local History - from the National Archives.
• The Royal Collection Trust 's George III Collection of Military Maps contains numerous maps of England, and some of Wales and of Scotland.
• The British Historic Towns Trust Atlas provides free-to-download Atlases and maps of Britain's historic towns and cities.