Publication Drawing: Industrial sites on the third edition OS maps, 1905-14. Created for FORTS, FARMS AND FURNACES Archaeology in the Central Scotland Forest, RCAHMS 1998, WP003896.pdf, Fig. 21

Description Publication Drawing: Industrial sites on the third edition OS maps, 1905-14. Created for FORTS, FARMS AND FURNACES Archaeology in the Central Scotland Forest, RCAHMS 1998, WP003896.pdf, Fig. 21

Date 1998

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number GV 007645

Category Digital Files (Non-image)

Scope and Content Creation of the CSW Database and Railway/Canal linework The database has been compiled chiefly from information depicted on the early editions of the OS 6-inch (I:10,560 scale) maps. The aim has been to provide a record of every industrial site, and every building (excluding those in modern built-up areas and modern farm-yards), that appears on one or more of the first three editions of the maps, but does not appear, or is shown disused, on the most recent equivalent, the I:10,000 scale series. The early maps were compiled on a county basis, and the survey and publication dates of each edition vary slightly from county to county: the first edition maps were surveyed between 1852 and 1860, the second edition between 1893 and 1897 and the next revision (henceforth referred to as the third edition) was prepared between 1905 and 1914. For this project the maps of each edition have been taken as being contemporary, enabling them to be used as 'snapshots' of central Scotland at three points from the height of the Industrial Revolution to the eve of the First World War. Other maps (e.g. 25-inch (I:2,500 scale) OS sheets and estate maps) were occasionally used, particularly in areas selected for fieldwork, but no systematic search was made of maps earlier than the OS first edition. The process of compiling the database was as follows. Each mine, factory or building was given a unique number; larger industrial complexes were usually broken down into their constituent parts only where those components were separately annotated by the OS at the 6-inch scale, while small groups of workers' cottages and farmsteads comprising several buildings were treated as one site. In towns only industrial and commercial sites annotated as such were included, and domestic buildings were omitted. A National Grid Reference (NGR), accurate to ten metres, was then calculated for each site. As many sites do not appear on modern maps, and the projection used on OS maps has changed since the three early editions, this frequently involved some manual calculation, using as control those features which appeared to be common to both old and current maps. The development of each site was then traced through the three map editions, and for each edition it was recorded whether or not the site was depicted and, if so, whether it was in use or disused. Short text fields in the database allowed a brief comment or description of the map depiction. Other fields in the database cater for measurements and other observations made during fieldwork, while others allow for an examination of aerial photographs, although a lack of time prevented examination of this valuable resource except in fieldwork areas. Railways and canals were approached in a different way. Rather than include them in the database they were digitised at a scale of I:10,560 (with some simplification of the sidings at the larger industrial complexes) to produce a map of the railway and canal network for each OS edition, with used and disused lines depicted in different colours. In all there are over 6,100 sites in the database and more than 11OOkms of railway and canal have been digitised. The database is available for consultation in the NMRS; a copy is also held, along with the digitised maps of the railways and canals, in a Geographical Information System (GIS) in the NMRS, where they can be viewed together. GIS is a powerful tool for the interrogation of large data bases such as this, enabling them to be analysed in a variety of ways and against a wide variety of other modern map datasets; the system proved indispensable during the preparation of this report, enabling, for example, a rapid selection and retrieval of sites for inclusion in the maps illustrating the industrial development of the area (Figs 19-21).

Scale 1:120000

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/2032734

File Format (PDF) Adobe Acrobat document