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.

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

A PDF map that shows the health areas in England and Wales as at April 2013. The map shows the health geographies (clinical commissioning group, NHS area teams, and NHS commissioning regions) that became operative in England as at April 2013 and the local health boards in Wales. (File Size - 4 MB)

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)

Health geography hierarchy boundaries, December 2020, England and Wales.Boundaries used (BGC) for geographies in England and Wales are generalised (20m) and are clipped to the coastline for England and Wales.

mixed sampling type - incorporates all previous detailed soil mapping augmented by a reconnaissance survey at 2-3/kme This dataset does not contain any soil parameter information. It can be associated with parameter information on the basis of soil type

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 is a soil map of England and Wales at 1:250000 scale. NATMAP Vector shows the locations of the 297 distinct soil associations wherever they occur within the countries. Each soil associations has multiple soil series. This hierarchical data structure allows for easy integration with the series-based, non-spatial SOILSERIES data, linking this tabular data with the spatial framework. NATMAP Vector is the most detailed of four versions of the National Soil Map. It is derived from the National Soil Map for England and Wales and is the product of sixty years of soil survey work in England and Wales. In addition, other NATMAP products are also available, at different prices and scales, including simplified gridded representations, top and subsoil texture, wetness, available water, and soil carbon datasets.

The Rural-Urban Classification is a Government Statistical Service product developed by the Office for National Statistics; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and the Welsh Assembly Government.Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.Contains OS data © Crown copyright 2025Links below to FAQ, Methodology and User GuideFAQ https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/f359d48424664a1584dca319f3dac97f/aboutMethodology https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/833a35f2a1ec49d98466b679ae0a0646/aboutUser Guide https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/c8e8e6db38e04cb8937569d74bce277a/about

Two map files in ARC GIS PRO showing the main roads in England and Wales mapped by John Cary ca 1825

This is a map of Anglesey 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.

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.

A PDF map showing the registration districts in England and Wales as at December 2012. (File Size - 3 MB)

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.

Soilscapes is a 1:250,000 scale, simplified soils dataset covering England and Wales. It was created from the far more detailed National Soil Map (NATMAP Vector) held by Cranfield University, with the purpose of communicating effectively a general understanding of the variations which occur between soil types, and how soils affect the environment and landscape of the two countries. Soil exerts a strong influence on our whole ecosystem, being the foundation for many of the ecosystem services and functions recognised, and is a fragile resource that needs to be understood and protected.Soilscapes is one of our most popular datasets - and to encourage a wider understanding of soils, web access to this data is now made freely accessible. Soilscapes does away with confusing terminology, enabling informed decision-making by non-soil scientists who need to understand soil and how it affects broad landscapes. Using the Soilscapes web mapping service, it is simple to build up a good understand of many fundamental soil-landscape processes for any region across England and Wales.For more information about soils and soils data please visit the LandIS - Land Information System www.landis.org.uk

A PDF map that shows the counties in England and Wales as at 31 December 1961. (File Size - 2.6 MB)

LIDAR is an airborne terrain mapping system, which uses a laser to measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground. This technique results in the production of cost effective terrain maps with a height accuracy of 10 to 15cm. Typically with spot heights between 1 to 4 metres spatially on the land surface. CASI is used to provide information on the colour of the environment. It is designed to provide a flexible system which is easy to transport and straightforward to install and operate in small aircraft. It can be used for detailed studies of the spectral characteristics of ground or water targets, which are imaged instantaneously in a large number of spectral wavebands (up to 288), covering the visible and near infra-red regions of the spectrum, between 430 nm and 870 nm. Spatial resolution can be varied from one to ten metres, depending on the flying altitude and lens configuration. New LIDAR and CASI data sets are being gathered from parts of England and Wales all the time. For details on coverage and extent contact the National Centre.

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.

To begin with, Bartholomew printed their half-inch maps in Scotland as stand-alone sheets known as 'District Sheets' and by 1886 the whole of Scotland was covered. They then revised the maps into an ordered set of 29 sheets covering Scotland in a regular format. This was first pubilshed under the title Bartholomew’s Reduced Ordnance Survey of Scotland. The half-inch maps formed the principal content for Bartholomew's Survey Atlas of Scotland published in 1895. Bartholomew then moved south of the Border to the more lucrative but competitive market in England and Wales, whilst continuing to revise the Scottish sheets. The first complete coverage of Great Britain at the half-inch scale was achieved by 1903 with 67 individual half-inch sheets. Generally at this time, the English sheets sold three times more quickly, at three times the volume of the Scottish sheets. As for Scotland, Bartholomew used their half-inch sheets of England and Wales in the Survey Atlas of England and Wales published in 1903. From 1901, following a copyright complaint from Ordnance Survey, Bartholomew was forced to drop 'Ordnance' from their map titles. The series was initially renamed 'Bartholomew's Reduced Survey', and by 1903 'Bartholomew's half inch to the mile map'.Bartholomew revised the most popular half-inch sheets every couple of years, ensuring that their maps were more up to date than their main rival, Ordnance Survey. Popular sheets had print runs of several tens of thousands per edition, involving nearly 20 different layer colour plates for hillier areas with more colour.More information: http://geo.nls.uk/maps/bartholomew/great_britain/further_info.html