ONLINE TALK, The Rise & Mapping of the Signpost.

Tuesday 5th December 2023, 7:30pm. Zoom.

Richard Oliver explores how signposts came to be erected, and what we can learn about their numbers and distribution from early OS mapping. View the recording here, streaming length: 1h 05m.

MAPPING MONUMENTS CONFERENCE

Friday 17th November 2023, 5pm. Drummond Hotel, Ballykelly, N. Ireland.

This is a one-day conference in November which will explore the local legacy of the Ordnance Survey around Lough Foyle.

The conference organised by the Binevenagh and Coastal Lowlands Landscape Partnership and Queens University Belfast will celebrate the end of the ‘Mapping Monuments’ community heritage project funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Since November 2021, volunteers have been working on the Mapping Monuments project, carrying out fieldwork and local research to find traces of the Ordnance Survey in the landscape. The conference will explore the project's findings, as well as see the launch of a new travelling exhibition about the Lough Foyle Baseline and its heritage.

Aimed at a wide audience, the conference will be opened by Joe Mahon and the day will be filled with hugely knowledgeable speakers - both academics and volunteers who have been working on the project.

SOCIETY MEETING, London in Rails & Rivers

Saturday 4th November 2023, 10:30am. Highgate, London.

Bring along one or two maps of any of London’s railways or waterways, and tell us what you know about them, or ask others present to tell you!  All interesting maps are welcome, whether OS origin or not.

ONLINE TALK, The rise of Hagstrom's cartographic empire: early subway maps of New York City.

Wednesday 25th October 2023.

Peter Lloyd spoke to us live with many map illustrations. Showing how the new subway lines were integrated into the street map. Comparison with London's early Metropoltan Railway maps, which likewise had to show cut-and-cover underground lines within a dense city. Early New York mapmakers such as Hammond and Ohman followed the Metropolitan style of overprinting. It was Hagstrom that revolutionised the cartography by re-drawing the street map around the subway. And this is surely part of the reason that Hagstrom dominated New York street maps for a half a century, and remained a strong but waning force into the 1990s.
 
Peter Lloyd is a professional software engineer with a long-standing passion for collecting and studying maps of underground railway systems. He has embarked on a project to document the history of the New York City subway map.  In this project he has published Vignelli: Transit Maps (RIT Press 2012) and is now working on further volumes.

View the recording here, streaming length: 1h 03m

NEW, IN PERSON, SHOW & TELL MEETINGS! 

Saturday 8th July 2023, 11am. Highgate London   

In what we hope will be the first of a series of live London meetings, CCS will be meeting at 'The Woodman' pub, right next to Highgate Underground station on the Northern Line. Bring a map (or two) and briefly talk about it, or just bring yourself and listen to others. The theme, appropriately enough, will be: London!  We will have our own area in the pub, starting at 11am.  A large screen is available via wi-fi if required. A good range of lunches and drinks will be available at reasonable London pub prices. There is no entry charge provided you pre-register.  Details of hope to reserve a place can be found in the electronic Newsletter that is sent to Members.

CARTO/CYMRU, The Wales Map Symposium 2023.

Friday 12th May 2023.

 Presented by The National Library of Wales and The Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments of Wales, in association with The Charles Close Society, this should be a great event, and a fine introduction to our AGM the next day. The theme is 'Mapping the Nation' – exploring the work of the Ordnance Survey, how approaches to mapping the landscape have changed over time and how historical OS maps can help us to understand our physical environment both past and present, so very much aligned to our Society aims and existance. The planned presentations are below:

• 10:00 - Welcome by Pedr ap Llwyd, Librarian & Chief Executive, The National Library of Wales.
• 10:15 - 'Excavating' the Map: Landscapes of the Early Ordnance Survey in Great Britain and Ireland – Keith Lilley, Professor of Historical Geography, Queen’s University, Belfast.
• 11:00 - The Blue & Black MS Drawings for the 1:2500 – Dr Rob Wheeler, Honorary Secretary, Charles Close Society.
• 11:45 - Mapping the milestones in Ordnance Survey’s history – Jess Baker, Technical Relationship Consultant, Ordnance Survey.
• 12:30 - Lunch
• 14:00 - The Meresmen and the Parish Boundaries of Wales – Scott Lloyd, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.
• 14:45 - Not just maps of Wales: OS mapping at the National Library – Huw Thomas, Map Curator, The National Library of Wales.
• 15:25 - Afternoon break
• 15:45 - Wales on the Map – Mike Parker.
• 16:30 - Closing address by Christopher Catling, Secretary and Chief Executive, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2023 

Saturday 13th May 2023.

The first physical Annual General Meeting and map market for a few years, this is not to be missed. It is also the day after the Carto/Cymru Conference, see above, so another reason to attend. More details are in April's Sheetlines, please reply to Committee member Anne Taylor to confirm your attendance. We'd love to see as many attend as possible, to catch up with all things Ordnance Survey maps, and see some old friends too. 

A WALK AROUND VAUXHALL & NINE ELMS, LONDON

Saturday 22nd April 2023, 11am.

• This was led by CCS member John King, who promised a free map at the end of the walk!
• Distance just over 2 miles, mainly on the flat but stairs will be involved, taking about 2 to 3 hours in total.
• Maximum group size will be a maximum of 20, so please book in as soon as you can.
• This is for Members only

The area of Vauxhall and Nine Elms developed in the 19th century with the coming of the railways into what had been a largely rural area. Alongside the railways there was also much industry. Significant changes occurred in the late 1960s and 1970s with the disappearance of the railway works and much of the heavy industry. What replaced these activities were light industrial units and warehousing including New Covent Garden Market. Another change began in the second decade of the 21st Century with the arrival of large scale apartment and flat buildings. The walk will reflect these changes and include the site of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, 19th century housing developments with a 20th century twist, Vauxhall Park, the sites of two Royal Stations, the new Nine Elms underground station, the Sky Pool, the new United States embassy (technically we will actually be in the USA), the present day Nine Elms, a surviving country house and much, much more. 

BRITISH MILITARY MAP-MAKERS IN THE PENINSULA, A TALK

Tuesday 28th March 2023, 7:30pm.

This will be a talk by Dr John Peaty about Wellington’s army in the early 19th century 'Peninsular' war. Below is his abstract regarding the talk and context for reference. One of the major contributions to the liberation of Portugal and Spain from the French was the superb intelligence service developed by the British Army which enabled Wellington to know to a remarkable degree what was on the other side of the hill. In recent years British military historians have transformed our understanding of Wellington’s intelligence service in the Peninsular War. Urban, Davies and Romans have illuminated the work of code-breakers, agents and exploring officers. However, the contribution of British surveyors and map-makers to discovering and then depicting what was on the other side of the hill remains unappreciated - as does their contribution to recording Wellington’s campaigns and battles for posterity. This paper will examine the neglected work of Wellington’s surveyors and map-makers during and in the aftermath of the Peninsular War. It will show that men such as Broke, Sturgeon, Bell, Colleton, Staveley, Bainbrigge, Freeth and Mitchell made a major contribution to the success of Wellington’s operations and the winning of his victories by not only finding out what was on the other side of the hill but also by depicting it accurately and usefully. It will further show that such men made a major contribution to the study of the war by recording for history Wellington’s operations and victories accurately and usefully afterwards. Finally, it will show that such men rendered distinguished service in many fields and that, ironically, they are remembered today for things other than surveying and map-making in the Peninsula.