Check out these spots on the web!
Scottish maps online
The National Library of Scotland has placed its marvellous collection of historic maps online - and a first class resource it is! One of the gems is a collection of large scale Ordnance Survey town plans, 1847-1895. There are 1,900 of these sheets, covering 62 towns.
For instance, there are three sets of plans for Edinburgh: 54 sheets from 1849-53 at a scale of 1:1056; 66 sheets from 1876-77 at 1:1056; and 185 sheets from 1893-4 at 1:500. The amount of detail in these maps necessarily involves a lot of downloading, but it's worth the wait, because at a scale of 1:500 the detail is incredible.
Any feature over 6 inches wide can be shown, and consequently bollards, lamp-posts, pavements, trees, steps and garden paths are all shown 'true-to-scale'. Due to the importance of the plans for improving urban sanitation, many features relating to gas, water supply, sewerage and drainage are shown, including fire plugs, hydrants, water taps, manholes, ventilators, stop-cocks, spot-heights and benchmarks.
The maps show the divisions between all buildings, including tenements, as well as the wynds and vennels that are a regular feature of Scottish towns, but rarely visible on smaller scale plans.
Many industrial premises are clearly depicted, sometimes showing their internal functions and manufacturing processes, along with harbours, docks, market places, canals, railways and tramways. The growth of tourism with new facilities in seaside resorts and tourist accessories can also be found. The plans also show the ground floor layout of public buildings, such as cathedrals, churches, schools, poorhouses, prisons, and town halls.
Apart from the large scale OS town plans, the site also has about 1,300 other maps - including Scotland (from 1560), its counties (from 1580), the popular "inch to the mile" Ordnance Survey maps (from 1898), various town plans (92 towns, 1580-1919), plus a range of coastal, marine and Admiralty maps.
Well worth a look, even if you've not traced this far back, are Timothy Pont's manuscript maps of c1583-c1596. 77 maps, drawn on 38 fragile sheets, they offer an astonishing wealth of detail. There are good online tools to help you navigate these otherwise difficult items.
This site is a "must" for bookmarking if you have Scottish ancestors!
British Merchant Marine
A handy set of background notes on this subject can be found on Len Barnett's site and should prove useful to anyone researching the careers of 19th or 20th century merchant mariners. The notes are well written and supplemented by links to other useful sites.
Devon Book Indexing Project
This project aims to provide detailed name indexes to Devon-related books mentioning lots of people, such as parish histories etc. 135 online indexes are available so far, with another 30 or so underway.
This worthwhile project is well worth support by anyone with Devon ancestors - or with a Devon book that they are prepared to index!
Sydney Streets
The latest exhibition from the City of Sydney's Archives and History Program, is now on-line. The city's streets tell something of its social history and sense of place. Through their names, their alignments, their appearances and their disappearances, the streets of Sydney document and illustrate the city's evolution.
The on-line exhibition features over 100 historic photographs, maps, plans and documents from the City of Sydney Archives. There are fabulous photographs showing old streetscapes, views and vistas. Discover the origins of street names, lost laneways, woodblocked streets, the widening of Oxford Street in 1910, and much more.
Ayrshire Roots
If you have Ayrshire roots, then this site is one to check out. There's a database derived from Poor Relief records, plus an index of Ayrshire names submitted by site visitors. The latter provides the contact email address of the submitter, to facilitate swapping of research.
Access to the databases requires (free) registration and password, but the process is quick and painless.
The site also provides a chat room, a pen pal page, message board and research services, as well as a few other useful Ayrshire links. Try it!
If you've got a great tip - a site that you get real value from and think would be worth sharing - let us know!
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Our annual weekend seminar this year is based around the theme, Lost in Ireland.
Where did your family come from? How deep do your ancestral roots go? And are you related to someone famous -- or infamous? Discover your roots and family history the easy way -- with a computer, an Internet connection, and, of course, a copy of the first Australian edition of Tracing Your Family History Online for Dummies.
