Boundary Changes over time

[Alexander Bisset]

A query about Irish boundaries had me thinking and I recalled seeing a site where historic maps had been scanned to create a project that tracked the various boundaries of the UK over time. This project created a wonderful resource for family historians called A Vision of Britain through time.

The site describes itself as "A vision of Britain between 1801 and 2001. Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions". It is a fascinating resource and particularly helpful in tracking down places that were near various boundaries. You can enter a placename and it will take you to a page where you can view all the maps in its collection for that place. eg: Stanstead Mountfitchet.

 

[Emmyw]

I am probably a bit slow on the uptake, but along with boundary changes, the volume numbers (as used on FreeBMD) changed, more than once, I think. I have just discovered that that is why the Ancestry records have districts that bear no relation to the county listed - a birth entry for 1946 given as Calder, Sussex (2b), but the volume 2b had changed by then from Sussex to Yorkshire, which, of course, is where Calder is!!

 

[Heather]

It may be of interest to some, especially new researchers that on the FreeBMD site, once you have found the entry you are searching for, if you click on the district and then on the word "here" on the next page, this takes you to the Genuki site and all the information about the area and when certain areas were established, changed their name, were abolished etc can be found, very helpful sometimes establishing if you are actually in the correct area.

 

[Gillian]

It's two and a half years since Alexander first told us about A Vision of Britain through Time
There will have been a lot of new members since then, so perhaps a reminder of this wonderful resource is timely.