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Maps
Printed maps and plans are extremely important
for the study of the physical growth of towns and villages, and
no detailed work on settlement, the development of industry,
etc. is really possible without reference to these sources, which
for the Calderdale area go back to the late 16th century, at
a small-scale county level, and back to the mid-18th century,
on a more localised and larger scale. When used in together,
they give us a graphic bird's-eye view of a continuously evolving
local urban and rural landscape.
County maps
Early county maps date from the late 16th
century onwards, and include maps by Christopher Saxton (1577), John Speed (1610) and Thomas Jefferys (1775). Although they are important documents, the scale of these maps is such
that they are of little value for detailed local research.
Local maps
The first local map in print is of the town
Halifax, is dated 1759 and is to be found in John Watson's history
of Halifax, which was published in 1775. The next map covers
the whole township and was published in 1797. During the first
half of the 19th century there are several maps of Halifax available
for the local historian, and some of these are accompanied by
terriers or field books which list owners of specific plots of
land at key points in time. The earliest map of the whole of
the ancient parish of Halifax (roughly equivalent to the area
of Calderdale) is dated 1834/5.
Ordance survey
The earliest detailed maps of the whole Calderdale
area are the circa 1850 Ordnance Survey plans on a scale of 6
inches to the mile. For the central business district of the
town of Halifax an even more detailed plan is available for the
same period, showing specific features of building layout and
even pinpointing shrubs and trees in gardens. From the 1890s
there are plans on scales of 6 inches and 25 inches to the mile,
and this pattern continues into the 20th century.
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