Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This research project aimed to fill a major lacuna militating against the effective exploitation of many post-medieval to mid-Victorian historical sources collected by local administrative areas: the lack of information on the boundaries of those administrative areas, the so-called 'historic' or 'ancient' parishes of England and Wales. It is known that these districts came into being during the Middle Ages, that the map of these ecclesiastical parishes was essentially complete by the fifteenth century, that these ecclesiastical boundaries were adopted during the early modern period for secular and judicial purposes, and that boundaries remained essentially unchanged until a number of reforms from the mid-nineteenth century onwards reorganised the local administrative geography of the country. The project aimed to reconstruct those boundaries as they were before the post-nineteenth century changes.
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The digitised maps cover the whole of England and Wales, and are organised by Ordnance Survey Sheet number. The maps contain a scanned bitmap image of the Ordnance Survey one inch to one mile (1:63,360) New Popular Edition maps (1945-8) with National Grid. They contain the boundaries of some 18,233 places, and are arranged as three electronic 'layers'. The first is a scan of the Ordnance Survey maps stored as grey tone sheet images. This enables Ordnance Survey physical, cultural and place-name content to be readily visible in the background for orientation and general location purposes, while not obscuring the added boundary and reference number material. The second layer consists of the boundaries, stored as solid red lines; and the third layer contains the reference numbers that link places on the map to the gazetteer/metadata dataset that accompanies the maps.

The maps are available on CD-ROM in Adobe Illustrator (ISBN:0-9540032-2-5) or Adobe Acrobat (ISBN:0-9540032-1-7) PDF formats. We recommend using the Adobe Illustrator format if you already have the software (as it enables you to edit the maps and select the layers to view). However, the Adobe Acrobat PDF format is perfectly suitable for viewing the maps, and we will supply the necessary reader software.

An accompanying book Historic Parishes of England and Wales: An Electronic Map of Boundaries before 1850 with a Gazetteer and Metadata by Roger Kain and Richard Oliver (ISBN:0-9540032-0-9) provides an introduction to the provenance of the maps. It also includes an abbreviated version of the gazetteer/metadata dataset, and a discussion of historical boundaries.

This unique combination publication is set to become a standard reference resource and is an invaluable tool for all those interested in plotting local area-based data from the past (population, agricultural, statistics, tax data etc.) from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

An ARC GIS PRO shapefile mapping the turnpike roads in England and Wales for the 18th and early 19th century. The data includes details of the Turnpike Acts, years of operation, the quality of the road and the routes used by Mail coaches. The data forms the basis of the paper "Government, trusts, and the making of better roads in early nineteenth century England & Wales by Rosevear, Bogart & Shaw-Taylor.

This map represents all current live offshore agreements in English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters. The boundaries are a true reflection of what has been signed in the Agreements for Lease and Lease documents. Much of the agreements data shown in this map is available from the The Crown Estate Open Data portal.

How would you define the boundaries of a town or city in England and Wales in 2016?

Maybe your definition would be based on its population size, geographic extent or where the industry and services are located. This was a question the ONS had to consider when creating a new statistical geography called Towns and Cities.

In reality, the ability to delimit the boundaries of a city or town is difficult!

Major Towns and Cities

The new statistical geography, Towns and Cities has been created based on population size and the extent of the built environment. It contains 112 towns and cities in England and Wales, where the residential and/or workday population > 75,000 people at the 2011 Census. It has been constructed using the existing Built-Up Area boundary set produced by Ordnance Survey in 2011.

This swipe map shows where the towns and cities and built-up areas are different. Just swipe the bar from left to right.

The blue polygons are the towns and cities and the purple polygons are the built-up areas.

ArcGIS shapefile of 3,316 polygons providing boundary and attribute data for the 2182 registration subdistricts of England and Wales as given in the 1851 census. These data derive from the 173 digital maps of the boundaries of English and Welsh parishes and their subdivisions produced by Roger Kain and Richard Oliver based on the listing in the 1851 census.

These data were created as part of a research program directed by Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Tony Wrigley, which aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure of Britain from the late medieval period down to the early twentieth century.

This map represents all current live offshore agreements in English, Welsh and Northern Irish waters. The boundaries are a true reflection of what has been signed in the Agreements for Lease and Lease documents. Much of the agreements data shown in this map is available from the The Crown Estate Open Data portal.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

These digital boundaries were created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

They represent the boundaries of Registration Districts in England and Wales as in use at the date of each Census of Population between 1851 and 1911, 1911 being the last census to report extensively on these units.

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These digital boundaries can be used to map economic, social and demographic statistics from the Censuses of Population, 1851 to 1911, the Registrar-General's reports from the same period, and other relevant statistical sources. They can also be used as reference maps for these administrative units.

Note that these Registration Districts were mostly identical to the Poor Law Unions which existed in the same period, but there are significant exceptions, most often where one Registration District was divided into multiple Poor Law Unions. These differences have been recorded by the Great Britain Historical GIS.

The boundary data contain the same numerical identifiers as are included in the GBHD transcriptions of census and vital registration statistics for Registration Districts, making statistical mapping straightforward.

This layer of the GeoIndex shows the location of available 1:10000 scale digital geological maps within Great Britain. The Digital Geological Map of Great Britain project (DiGMapGB) has prepared 1:625 000, 1:250 000 and 1:50 000 scale datasets for England, Wales and Scotland. The datasets themselves are available as vector data in a variety of formats in which they are structured into themes primarily for use in geographical information systems (GIS) where they can be integrated with other types of spatial data for analysis and problem solving in many earth-science-related issues. The DiGMapGB-10 dataset is as yet incomplete, current work is concentrated on extending the geographical cover, especially to cover high priority urban areas.

This is a map of Worcester in a series of maps of England and Wales, shown at a 1:63,360 or one inch to one statute mile scale. This road map was created by the Great Britain Ordnance Survey.

This dataset comprises 2 collections of maps. The facsmile collection contains all the marginalia information from the original map as well as the map itself, while the georectified collection contains just the map with an associated index for locating them. Each collection comprises approximately 101 000 monochrome images at 6-inch (1:10560) scale. Each image is supplied in .tiff format with appropriate ArcView and MapInfo world files, and shows the topography for all areas of England, Wales and Scotland as either quarter or, in some cases, full sheets. The images will cover the approximate epochs 1880's, 1900's, 1910's, 1920's and 1930's, but note that coverage is not countrywide for each epoch. The data was purchased by BGS from Sitescope, who obtained it from three sources - Royal Geographical Society, Trinity College Dublin and the Ordnance Survey. The data is for internal use by BGS staff on projects, and is available via a customised application created for the network GDI enabling users to search for and load the maps of their choice. The dataset will have many uses across all the geoscientific disciplines across which BGS operates, and should be viewed as a valuable addition to the BGS archive. There has been a considerable amount of work done during 2005, 2006 and 2007 to improve the accuracy of the OS Historic Map Collection. All maps should now be located to +- 50m or better. This is the best that can be achieved cost effectively. There are a number of reasons why the maps are inaccurate. Firstly, the original maps are paper and many are over 100 years old. They have not been stored in perfect condition. The paper has become distorted to varying degrees over time. The maps were therefore not accurate before scanning. Secondly, different generations of maps will have used different surveying methods and different spatial referencing systems. The same geographical object will not necessarily be in the same spatial location on subsequent editions. Thirdly, we are discussing maps, not plans. There will be cartographic generalisations which will affect the spatial representation and location of geographic objects. Finally, the georectification was not done in BGS but by the company from whom we purchased the maps. The company no longer exists. We do not know the methodology used for georectification.

This dataset contains gridded human population with a spatial resolution of 1 km x 1 km for the UK based on Census 2011 and Land Cover Map 2015 input data. Data on population distribution for the United Kingdom is available from statistical offices in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and provided to the public e.g. via the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Population data is typically provided in tabular form or, based on a range of different geographical units, in file types for geographical information systems (GIS), for instance as ESRI Shapefiles. The geographical units reflect administrative boundaries at different levels of detail, from Devolved Administration to Output Areas (OA), wards or intermediate geographies. While the presentation of data on the level of these geographical units is useful for statistical purposes, accounting for spatial variability for instance of environmental determinants of public health requires a more spatially homogeneous population distribution. For this purpose, the dataset presented here combines 2011 UK Census population data on Output Area level with Land Cover Map 2015 land-use classes 'urban' and 'suburban' to create a consistent and comprehensive gridded population data product at 1 km x 1 km spatial resolution. The mapping product is based on British National Grid (OSGB36 datum).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aims of the project were :
to ascertain how many enclosure, parochial assessment, drainage and sanitary maps survive in England and Wales;
to analyse their cartographic characteristics, including scale, date and mapmaker;
to analyse the way in which central and local government and their agencies used maps as instruments with which to implement policy relating to the ownership, use and taxation of land;
to analyse regional and temporal variations in the coverage of England and Wales by various types of map;
to obtain data on historic parish and township boundaries in England and Wales.
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The dataset covers all the enclosure, parochial assessment, drainage and sanitary maps of England and Wales which were available for public consultation at the time of data collection (1993-1997). For all maps, the date of the map, its scale, its centroid on the National Grid, its dimensions, its maker (where known) and all details as to the types of information (boundaries, communications, settlement, land use, water features, public boundaries, cadastral information) contained on each map are recorded. It is possible to analyse the data by late nineteenth century county, by date and by type of map.

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

A PDF map that shows the health areas in England and Wales as at April 2021. The map shows the health geographies: clinical commissioning groups that became operative in England as at April 2021 and the local health boards that became operative in Wales as at April 2019. (File Size - 1,004 KB)

ArcGIS shapefile of 245polygons providing boundary and attribute data for the 55 registration counties of England and Wales as given in the 1851 census.

These data were created as part of a research program directed by Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Tony Wrigley, which aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure of Britain from the late medieval period down to the early twentieth century.

ArcGIS shapefile of 288 polygons providing boundary and attribute data for the fifty-five ancient counties of England and Wales as given in the 1831 census for England and Wales. As such this represents the counties of England and Wales as they were before the boundary changes caused by the Counties (Detached Parts) Act, 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 61) which led to the elimination of some of the detached portions of counties.

These data were created as part of a research program directed by Leigh Shaw-Taylor and Tony Wrigley, which aims ultimately to reconstruct the evolution of the occupational structure of Britain from the late medieval period down to the early twentieth century.

A collection of hydrogeological maps created by the British Geological Survey between 1967 and 1994. The maps in the collection cover aspects of groundwater availability, exploitation and quality and were published at various scales from 1:25 000 to 1:625 000 A hydrogeological map is a specialized type of map that illustrates the distribution and characteristics of hydrogeological features in a particular area. Hydrogeological maps of the UK provide information on major aquifers, including geological and lithological information, surface drainage systems and water quality issues. The 23 maps show information on surface water features, the three dimensional geometry of aquifers, groundwater levels, abstractions and quality including saline intrusion in varying amounts of detail. They range in scale from 1:625 000, for the national map of the hydrogeology of England and Wales, down to 1:25 000 for some of the smaller regional maps. These maps are important tools for understanding and managing groundwater resources, as well as for addressing water-related environmental issues. These maps are hard-copy paper records stored in the National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC), and are delivered as digital scans through the BGS website.

A PDF map showing the registration districts in England and Wales as at December 2015. (File Size - 1 MB)

Digitised versions of a set of 1:100,000 scale maps of aquifer vulnerability for England and Wales. The dataset identifies the vulnerability to pollution of major and minor aquifers as defined by the Environment Agency, utilising a combination of geological, hydrogeological and soils data. The maps are designed to be used by planners, developers, consultants and regulatory bodies to ensure that developments conform to the Policy and Practice of the Environment Agency for the protection of Groundwater. Please note that these maps are based on data from the late 1980's and early 1990's, more up-to-date digital data may now be available from the Environment Agency. Flat maps may be purchased from the BGS, some sheets are now out of print.

This geolocated dataset derives from several surveys commissioned by the English Crown in 1565, enquiring into the state of the various ports, landing places, and coastal communities of England and Wales.

Please see the GitHub repository for details of the sources used and visualisation of their geographic scope.

An updated map of peat extent for Wales has been developed by the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, with support from the British Geological Survey and Natural Resources Wales in support of the Glastir Monitoring & Evaluation Programme, commissioned by the Welsh Government. This map represents a considerable advance on previous attempts to map the deep peat resource of Wales and yields a significantly larger estimate than that based on the Soil Survey of England and Wales alone. This new map highlights the wide distribution of peatlands across much of Wales, with large areas of upland blanket bog in North east and North-central Wales (Migneint, Berwyn) and central Wales (Cambrian Mountains), as well as smaller areas of upland peat in and around the Brecon Beacons National Park. The new unified map also provides a much more detailed picture of the distribution of deep peat in the lowlands, many areas of which retain significant biodiversity interest. The Glastir Monitoring & Evaluation Programme was set up by the Welsh Government in 2013 to monitor the effects of the Glastir agri-environment scheme on the environment and ran from 2013 to 2016. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/58139ce6-63f9-4444-9f77-fc7b5dcc00d8