2. Ordnance Survey maps held elsewhere and published online

For published Ordnance Survey maps you should head elsewhere before searching at The National Archives as our collection is not comprehensive and you are less likely to find a published map here than online or at libraries and other archives, including local archives. You can find contact details for archives elsewhere using Find an archive.

Major libraries, including Legal Deposit Libraries, where published maps are held include:

• British Library
• Bodleian Library, Oxford
• Cambridge University Library
• National Library of Wales
• National Library of Scotland

Digitised copies of many Ordnance Survey maps are available on several websites including:

• National Library of Scotland (currently the most comprehensive source of publicly available free digitised maps and index maps)
• A Vision of Britain through Time
• British History Online
• British Geological Survey

You can view Ordnance surveyors’ drawings online at the British Library website.

3. Ordnance Survey maps at The National Archives

The National Archives, though not the routine place of deposit for published Ordnance Survey maps (see the Legal Deposit Libraries in section 2 for this) does, however, hold many Ordnance Survey maps used during the working life of various government departments. These include maps used by the Ordnance Survey itself, a government agency since the late 18th century. Some maps are ordinary editions but others are special editions or special printings. Many include additions made by hand.

Although the first Ordnance Survey map was published in 1801, it was many years before it produced detailed maps of the whole country. For many places, the oldest large-scale Ordnance Survey map dates from the 1860s, 1870s or 1880s. Many different editions of Ordnance Survey maps have been produced since then.

4. How to find Ordnance Survey maps at The National Archives

There is no single, comprehensive index of Ordnance Survey maps held here so to find a map you will need to try one of the following search methods:

4.1 Using index maps to find sheet numbers and grid references

4.2 Searching our online catalogue

Use the advanced search to search for maps, either using the sheet number (for example, “Devon VIII”) or using a combination of place names with “OS”.

4.3 Browsing or searching in specific record series

You can browse our catalogue for published Ordnance Survey maps in the following series, all of which contain significant numbers of Ordnance Survey maps:

• 124 series from IR 121/1 to IR 135/9 (Valuation Office survey)
• IR 90, IR 93 and IR 105 (the Tithe Redemption Office)
• WO 78 (War Office Map Library)
• F 17, F 23 and F 30 (the Forestry Commission)
• COAL 40 (National Coal Board)
• ZOS (former library collections)

5. Place names and topographical features

If you want to know how a place name was or is ‘officially’ or historically spelled or whether a place or feature of the landscape existed at a particular date, the records and maps of the Ordnance Survey may provide you with the answers.  Various kinds of ‘name books’ were created and used by the staff of the Ordnance Survey to establish the names of places and features on maps, whether buildings or villages, hills or rivers, roads, railways or canals and numerous other ‘objects’ shown on maps, both natural and man-made. To decide on the spelling of names the surveyor would ask a local authority, such as a vicar or landowner, for their version and this would be recorded in the name books.

5.1 Object Name Books

The following series all contain variations of the Object Name Books described above – click on the references to learn more about each series and to search for name books within them:

• Parish Name Books 1850-1945 in OS 23 (search by county and parish)
• Original Name Books 1853-1866 for Cumberland, Durham, Hampshire, Northumberland and Westmorland in OS 34 (search by county and parish)
• One-Inch Scale Name Books in OS 50 for 1951-1970 and OS 52 for 1948-1975 (search by county)

6. Parish, county and other public boundaries

As well as producing maps, the Ordnance Survey, from 1841, was responsible for the Public Boundary Archive for Great Britain. Its files show each change to a public boundary (county, parish, parliamentary and local government boundaries). There are large numbers of Ordnance Survey reports and other files describing and defining boundaries. They include:

• Local government area boundaries 1852-1936 in OS 12
• Poor Law Union boundaries 1820-1940 (and less than half a dozen files from 1940-1971) in OS 24 (search by name of Poor Law Union and/or county)
• Local government boundaries as depicted and described in sketch maps, reports and remarks books in OS 26 to OS 29 and OS 30 to OS 33 (search by place name)
• County boundaries and other local government boundaries in OS 37 to OS 42 and OS 76 to OS 79

7. Other administrative and technical records

7.1 Pre-1841 records

Ordnance Survey was not a separate government department until 1841. For information about earlier records in WO 44, WO 47, WO 55, read our guide on Board of Ordnance.

Other records before 1841 are in:

• OS 3, particularly the military and scientific papers of Major General William Roy, 1756-1791 in OS 3/1-5
• T 1. Read How to find records of Treasury letters and papers for information

7.2 Post-1841 records

After 1841, many records are arranged and listed by:

• county or parish name
• sheet number or National Grid square

Search or browse the following series in our catalogue for:

• Policy and general administration records in OS 1, OS 9, OS 11
• Triangulation (used to measure distances and plot positions) and levelling (to establish elevations) records in OS 2, OS 6, OS 13, OS 16, OS 17, OS 54, OS 69

Read our guide on Public rights of way for information on records of public rights of way maintained by Ordnance Survey.

You can browse the full list of Ordnance Survey records series in our catalogue.

8. Staff records

We hold a relatively small number of records for Ordnance Survey staff.

Up to 1946, some Ordnance Survey staff were military personnel and some were civilians.

If you are looking for records of military staff, start by reading the relevant guides:

• British Army soldiers up to 1913
• British Army officers up to 1913
• British Army soldiers after 1913
• British Army officers after 1913

You can also consult the records in:

• WO 54/208 for men who served in the Royal Corps of Military Surveyors and Draughtsman which lists dates of appointment and promotions
• OS 1/1/1 for a list of Royal Engineer Officers who served in the Survey between 1791 and 1927
• OS 3/300 for a register of deceased soldiers serving in 13 Survey Company between 1829 and 1892, which gives information on cause of death and disposal of the man’s effects
• OS 1/1/4 for a list of all Royal Engineers officers serving with the Survey on 1 July 1890
• OS 3/341 for a register of marriages, births and baptisms for  men serving in 16 Survey Company Royal Engineers between 1885 and 1939; you can search for these by name using the OS 3 series search
• OS 3/275-277 for seniority lists of the Survey Battalion (1935-1942)

Very few records exist for civilian staff:

• OS 3/285 for a register of civil assistants (many of whom were former Royal Engineers who had previously been with military survey companies) which provide dates of entry into the Survey and of retirement
• OS 1/1/4 for a list of all civil assistants as well as Royal Engineers in post on 1 July 1890
• OS 10 for selected personal files on senior staff

Search Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers for a complete list of civilian staff in post in the Survey on 31 March 1863 (reference 1862 (xxxiii) 505). This is a subscription website you can access on The National Archives’ computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library.

9. Further reading

For general information, browse:

• the Ordnance Survey website
• the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps website

Read A brief history of Ordnance Survey on the Charles Close Society website.

There are many books and articles about Ordnance Survey maps and the history of Ordnance Survey. Some of the most useful include:

• Chris Higley, Old Series to Explorer: A Field Guide to the Ordnance Map (London, 2011)
• Richard Oliver, Ordnance Survey Maps: A Concise Guide for Historians, 3rd edition (London, 2013)
• Richard Oliver, The Ordnance Survey in the nineteenth century: maps, money and the growth of government (London, 2014)

You can also access PDF copies of the following publications from the history pages of the Ordnance Survey website:

• Tim Owen and Elaine Pilbeam, Ordnance Survey: Map Makers to Britain Since 1791 (Southampton, 1992)
• W A Seymour, ed, A History of the Ordnance Survey (Folkestone, 1980)

2. Using our catalogue to find records

For tips on searching the catalogue, use the help page.

Use the advanced search function of our catalogue, with relevant keywords and dates, to identify the records that will help you with your research.

The catalogue contains descriptions of the documents we have rather than their content. Only a few documents are available to view online. To see most documents you will need to either visit The National Archives at Kew or pay for copies to be sent to you. Alternatively, you can pay for research.

3. The principal medieval customs

The right to collect customs on imported or exported goods was one of the most ancient prerogatives enjoyed by English kings.

The earliest evidence that such dues were regularly collected comes from the Pipe Rolls during the twelfth century. However, during the thirteenth and fourteenth century the customs were expanded to meet the cost of expensive foreign wars.

A national custom, agreed by parliament, on wool (England’s principal medieval export) was established by the end of the thirteenth century.

Further customs – on cloth, wax and wine – were agreed during the course of the fourteenth century.

3.1 The ancient custom and butlerage

The ancient custom was imposed on all staple goods – principally wool, skins and leather, but also lead, tin, butter, cheese, lard and grease, from 1275.

It was a duty of

• 6s 8d on every sack of wool and every 300 (later 240) fells or skins
• 13s 4d on each last (200 hides) of leather

Butlerage was a duty on wine imports that formed part of the ancient custom, but from the beginning of Edward III’s reign it was collected by the King’s Chief Butler. As this office was usually granted to a figure of national political importance, a deputy in each of the ports actually collected the butlerage.

3.2 The new (or petty) custom

In 1303 the new (or petty) custom was applied to foreign merchants who had to pay an extra 50% on top of the ancient custom. In 1347 it was extended to include imported cloth and was payable by aliens and denizens.

Originally it included specific dues, paid by merchants to collectors in each port, on wool, leather and wax (later collected at the same time as the ancient custom) and an ad valorem duty of 3d in the pound on all other goods.

3.3 The subsidy

‘The subsidy’ was introduced in 1353 through the Statute of the Staple. Initially, it was a fluctuating subsidy on top of the ancient or new customs, but it became a fixed charge in 1471.

The accounts of these duties were amalgamated to form the Custom and Subsidy on Wool. They provide information about local officials who assessed and accounted for the duties and are a key source for the history of medieval trade.

3.4 Tunnage and poundage

Tunnage was a temporary levy on wine imports which was granted to the King for life in 1415.

Poundage was an extra ad valorem duty imposed on all non-staple goods exported or imported by aliens or denizens (except the German Hanse merchants).

4. Local taxes

As well as national customs there was a wide range of local dues imposed by ports and communities. These were either

• collected and disbursed locally
• collected for the King and accounted for at the Exchequer
• farmed out for a fixed annual amount

Some of these records can be found at The National Archives. Miscellaneous accounts sometimes survive in the pipe rolls E 372, or on foreign account or subsidy rolls in E364 and E359 but they are very scattered. Other records are in county record offices.

5. Collection of the customs

The collection of the customs required an elaborate system of revenue collectors in local areas working in conjunction with the Exchequer. The following record series contain useful material:

• C 66 – patent rolls. Royal grants for customs posts – collectors, surveyors and occasionally the auditors were sometimes enrolled on these
• C 60 – fine rolls. Some references to newly appointed customs officials can be found on these. This is because they had to tell the Exchequer about the customs they collected. Fine rolls for the period 1216–1272 (C 60/8-C60/69), are available and searchable online at Henry III fine rolls
• E 122 – Exchequer records. Some customs officials are named in the descriptions of these records

6. Customs’ accounts: the particulars

6.1 The Exchequer sent out books for the customs’ officers of each port to record the dues they collected. Three sets – the customer’s, controller’s and surveyor’s – were usually compiled. These recorded:

• the number and names of ships using the port
• the name of the master
• date of arrival or departure
• the name of the merchant in whose name the goods were shipped (with an annotation denoting denizen, alien or Hanse)
• each item of cargo that was subject to customs charges, often with its value and, in the case of the collectors’ accounts, the amount payable

Only a small sample of books relating to the customs and subsidy on wool, the petty custom and tunnage and poundage have survived. They are in the Particulars of Customs’ Accounts in E 122, and a small number have been printed.

This series also contains Exchequer type rolls which were drawn up after the audit of the accunts and before their enrolment. They give less information than the books of particulars. The files in E 122 are arranged by port, and then by date of account. The catalogue description explains the arrangement more fully.

Search using the name of the port and the date by entering them into the search box within E 122. Sometimes customer names are listed in the catalogue description so a search of E122 using the name might be worth trying.

6.2 The Exchequer Various Accounts in E 101 include:

• accounts for the collection of Butlerage from 8 Edw I
• wine accounts for Bordeaux
• other customs’ accounts relating to English possessions in France
• accounts for the collection of Ulnage (a subsidy on the sale of cloth first granted in 1353)
• collection of the subsidy on wool
• particulars of those local customs which were accounted for at the Exchequer – these are also in the Ministers’ and Receivers’ Accounts in SC 6

7. Customs’ accounts: the enrolled accounts

The catalogue description of E356 gives useful background information to customs enrolled accounts.

Customs officials would account to the Exchequer for the customs under their charge by:

• presenting their books or rolls of particulars for auditing
• drawing up a compotus, usually in the form of a roll, that would represent the final statement of their accounts for that period
• having the comptus enrolled – a process marked by a single vertical line drawn through it

The enrolled accounts record the total quantities imported or exported and the value of the customs. Individual merchants are only named if they were exempt from payment in a particular instance.

Until 1323 customs’ accounts were enrolled on the Pipe Rolls in E 372 and a duplicate on the Chancellor’s Rolls in E 352. From 1323 they were enrolled on special ‘foreign’ rolls and form the Enrolled Customs’ Accounts in E 356.

Some of the key sources for enrolled accounts are:

• foreign account rolls in E 364 – these include the collection of the customs and subsidy on wool by the merchants of the Staple from 1466 until 1531
• Duchy of Cornwall accounts in E 306 – these include some accounts for duties on wine collected in ports in the Duchy
• declared accounts 1500–1817 in E 351
• declared accounts of taxes from 1640–1822 in E 360
• declared excise accounts 1829–1849 in E 139
• stray enrolments in the Pipe Office in E 389
• miscellaneous enrolled accounts in E 358
• enrolments of the state of the customs’ accounts from the reign of Henry VII in E 102
• cases of merchants or customs officials attempting to defraud the customs revenue on the Exchequer memoranda rolls in E 159 and E 368

8. Further reading

Some of the publications below may be available to buy from The National Archives’ shop. Alternatively, search The National Archives’ library catalogue to see what is available to consult at Kew.

N S B Gras, The Early English Customs Systems (Cambridge, Mass, 1918)

E E Power and M M Postan (eds), Studies in English Trade in the Fifteenth Century (1933)

H S Cobb, ‘Local Port Customs’ accounts prior to 1550′, Journal of the Society of Archivists (1955–1959)

E M Carus-Wilson and O Coleman (eds), England’s Export Trade 1275–1547 (Oxford, 1963)

Printed customs’ accounts can be found in:

E M Carus-Wilson (ed), The Overseas Trade of Bristol in the Later Middle Ages, British Record Society, VII (1937)

D M Owen (ed), The Making of King’s Lynn: A Documentary Survey, British Academy, Records of Social and Economic History, IX (1984)

W Childs (ed), The Customs’ accounts of Hull 1453–1490, Yorkshire Archaeological Society 144 (1986)

H S Cobb (ed), The Overseas Trade of London 1480–1, London Record Society (1990)

S H Rigby (ed), The Overseas Trade of Boston in the reign of Richard III, Lincoln Record Society (2005)

2. How to search

A search for documents at The National Archives usually begins in our online catalogue. The catalogue contains short descriptions of the records and a document reference for each – you will need the document reference before you can see the record itself. You can search the catalogue using keywords and dates. Use the advanced search option to restrict your search results to records of a specific government department (and its predecessors) – departments are identified by a letter code. The department in which to focus searches for British Army records is the War Office –  department code WO.

For a general description of the records, read The Second World War: A Guide to Documents in the Public Record Office by John Cantwell (PRO, 1998).

Try searching the catalogue by:

• name of battle (for example, ‘Gazala’)
• name of operation (for example, ‘Overlord’)
• name of country or region where an operation took place (for example, Sicily or Belgium)
• name of army unit – many army units have been catalogued using abbreviations (for example, ‘Fd. Regt.’ instead of ‘Field Regiment’), and the formatting is not consistent (sometimes, for example, you should search for ‘8th army’, other times for ‘8 army’); you may have to format your search in multiple different ways to ensure greater success

Keep in mind that not all records have been catalogued in detail and that speculative searching in documents is often necessary. There is more search advice in the following sections of this guide should help you to focus searches

3. Unit war diaries

All units, from battalions and brigades to divisions and whole armies, maintained a daily record of events, often with appendices of signals and orders.

There are three ways that you can use our catalogue to search for a unit war diary but whichever way you search, keep in mind the advice in section 2 on searching for army units.

Search method 1

Using the advanced search, search with the name and number of the unit, restricting your search results to records of the War Office (department reference WO – see section 2) and to a specific date, year or range of years.

Search method 2

If you know the theatre of war where the unit was fighting (see section 9 for help with this) you can target your search to a specific series.  For example, if you know a regiment was fighting in Mesopotamia, you can target your search to the diaries of the Middle East forces by searching in record series WO 169.

Click on the appropriate record series in the table below to target your search to a theatre of operations. Search with the unit name and number.

*These series include associated papers

4. Headquarters papers

The records of the military headquarters of each theatre of operation, and of the forces under their command, are the most important sources of information on the planning and conduct of military operations. Search or browse the following record series:

5. War Office directorates

While the directorates were primarily concerned with administration, their records frequently include reports on actions and campaigns. Use our catalogue to search the following series, or browse them by clicking on the links:

6. Records of Cabinet and high command

6.1 Cabinet

To find records of the Cabinet Office, search our catalogue restricted to the department CAB and the relevant year range. Our research guide Cabinet and its committees gives more guidance.

The records include:

• defence committees, for example in CAB 69
• Chiefs of Staff committees, for example in CAB 79
• War Cabinet daily situation reports in CAB 100
• War Cabinet telegrams in CAB 105
• Secretariat files in CAB 120 – these document the personal intervention of the Prime Minister

The archived Cabinet Papers site has themed pages on war, the empire and diplomacy, which you can browse, some with links to downloadable documents.

6.2 Prime Minister’s Office

Browse Prime Minister’s Office operational papers in PREM 3. The confidential (policy) papers in PREM 4 may also contain operational information.

6.3 War Office councils and committees

Browse the following series:

• minutes of War Office council, Army council and their committees in WO 163
• Inter-Services security board minutes in WO 283 (contain information on the co-ordination of operational security and the control of code names)
• secret papers concerning defence issues in CAB 121

7. Other operational records

Search within WO 32 for reports of operations, using the following search terms in our catalogue:

• ‘Code 0’ (for overseas operations)
• ‘Code 46′(for narratives of operations)
• ‘Code 95’ (for reports of invasions)

Browse WO 33 for reports on actions with the enemy.

Browse the combined operations headquarters records in DEFE 2 or search by special service brigade, commando unit or the code name of the operation. This record series covers all amphibious and some airborne operations.

Search by operation codename or browse WO 233 and AIR 39 for airborne operations.

8. Official histories and narratives

Search or browse the following record series:

• narratives and reports written by the official historians of the Second World War in CAB 106 and CAB 101
• official historical studies of the war, mostly published in the 1950s, in WO 277
• notes and papers of a 1947 course on the D-Day landings and ensuing campaigns in WO 223
• medical historians’ papers that include narratives of medical units in action in WO 222

9. Orders of battle

The Orders of Battle and related records give the overseas locations of units during a particular battle or campaign. They show the distribution of divisions and regiments in numerical order and provide the station of each battalion or company. This information can help you trace a unit war diary.

Browse, search or consult the following for the locations of British and Dominions forces:

• WO 212
• WO 73
• Orders of Battle in the Second World War (2 volumes, HMSO, 1960) by HF Joslen

Browse or search the following for the locations of Allied and enemy forces:

• WO 33
• WO 106
• WO 208

10. Private papers

Private and private office papers contain some information about operations. Consult the papers of:

• Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis in WO 214
• the Chief of the (Imperial) General Staff in WO 216
• the Permanent Under Secretary in WO 258
• the Secretary of State in WO 259

11. Parliamentary records

Discussions in Parliament on army operations can be found in Hansard, which is available online on the Parliament website. Please note there are some volumes missing from the online data.

Our research guide to Hansard details different ways of accessing the reports and records of Parliamentary debates.

Other relevant records may be found in published Parliamentary papers. You can access these online via Proquest UK Parliamentary Papers. This is a subscription website you can access on The National Archives computers by visiting us at Kew. You may also be able to access it via a large reference library such as a university library.

The personal political papers of Lord Beaverbrook, who was a minister during the Second World War, contain a large amount of material relating to Second World War operations. See our separate research guide on Beaverbrook papers.