Forum menu
If you like discovering long-lost trails, this is brilliant! The National Library of Scotland has digitised OS maps back to the middle of the 19th Century. You can overlay these on the modern aerial views and change the transparency to see where the old tracks and trails are. If it's on the old maps, chances are it's still a right of way!
Does anyone else ever go out riding with a historical map? It's really fascinating.
[url= http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=5&lat=56.0000&lon=-4.0000&layers=1&b=1 ]http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=5&lat=56.0000&lon=-4.0000&layers=1&b=1[/url]
That's amazing!!
thank you 🙂
looks like a lot of the trails I ride already pre-date those maps.
as does my house...
The railways 1946 option makes for some sad viewing 🙁
Cheers for that. it's great.
Oh god. I had so much work I was supposed to do today.
Brilliant link thanks! Interesting comparing Hayfield and the dark peak before the trespass.
looks like a lot of the trails I ride already pre-date those maps
This is the thing - in 1886 nobody gave a monkey's about footpaths/bridleways etc. Those designations didn't exist. fact is, if there was a track and it had easy access at either end, people probably used it - for work, not leisure. By horse, bike, foot, cart.
And that's where our RoWs come from.
Thanks for the link, thats today sorted !
One of my favourite websites. So much interesting stuff on those old maps.
Fascinated to find that many of the tracks on tops of the mountains in S Wales are on the 1885 maps. Given that they are now on open access land, which allows right of access by bike when there's "existing tradition of access" it looks like we're free to ride on them. Which everyone does anyway and is never challenged. But it's nice to have backup.
Other fascinating thing is looking at the developments in east Cardiff from the 60s onwards. They actually removed loads of roads (but not all of them) to build massive new estates. I can understand building houses and upgrading roads, but erasing the old ones? Weird.
Great find, thanks
I've already found several rights of way around me that are on the definitive map as footpaths but shown as BR (bridle Roads) on the old OS maps.
monde - Member
Brilliant link thanks! Interesting comparing Hayfield and the dark peak before the trespass.
ooh ooh exciting ....thx thought from the wording it would be Scotland only (plus thanks to the OP)
I've already found several rights of way around me that are on the definitive map as footpaths but shown as BR (bridle Roads) on the old OS maps.
It can get very messy - with horrifically long and arcane arguments over whether rights were public or private, up your way the old track to riddlehamhope is a prime example.
Also interesting is that some of our mountain tracks are simply down as roads on old maps. Guess they never got round to tarmacking them.
Very cool!
Yes, the NLS maps are great.
Also worth a look at Heritage Paths, it has some interesting old routes (Scotland only). http://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/
Cracking find, thanks for that
Ta
It can get very messy - with horrifically long and arcane arguments over whether rights were public or private, up your way the old track to riddlehamhope is a prime example.
On the other hand, you might get them through unopposed. Anyway, I like annoying truculent land owners.
This is the kind of thing the Internet was invented for! Ban everything else 😀
I have a few historical OS maps because I'm interested in the original lines of communication between the lost communities of the Clearances.
I hadn't thought of doing the transparency overlay idea though - thanks. It's a much better idea than expensively collecting old maps to use.
Generally speaking you can still find the track if it hasn't been turned into a road or ploughed out of existence for forestry.
Luckily in Scotland we don't have to worry about the RoW nonsense.
Generally speaking you can still find the track if it hasn't been turned into a road or ploughed out of existence for forestry.
Where I live there's been a lot of opencast mining. You can see where it is by comparing the ancient and modern field patterns.
That's ace.
[quote=CraigW ]
Also worth a look at Heritage Paths, it has some interesting old routes (Scotland only). http://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/
br />
Some of my best work on there 🙂