British town plans in The National Archives, 1540 to 1900

Thursday 19 November

14:00 - 15:00

This talk will illustrate the development of town plans in Britain from 1540 to 1900, and will go on to show examples of these maps held by The National Archives. The plans often hold a double interest: they are records of the general geography of the town, but also they often have annotations or other evidence of use for a specific purpose. They include maps for defence purposes, maps for rearrangement of Parliamentary boroughs, and maps for railway administration.

Richard Oliver is a Research Fellow in the History of Cartography at the University of Exeter. He has published extensively on the Ordnance Survey, most notably 'Ordnance Survey maps: a concise guide for historians' (2nd edition, 2005), and has been working on pre-1900 town maps of Britain since 1999.

This is a free event. Tickets will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis on the day and cannot be booked in advance.

You can listen to previous talks given at The National Archives on our podcast page.