THE RISE AND DEMISE OF THE BUS MAP: CHARTING 70 YEARS OF SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE by John Davies.
Tuesday 12th November 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
Designing a bus map presents a particular challenge: how to convey the complexities of frequency, stopping patterns and route variations of the network in an easily-understood and attractive format to promote to potential passengers the travel opportunities available.
Over the past 70 years, from the peak of bus usage of the 1950s (fewer cars, little in-home entertainment) to the 2020s (Covid and ‘it’s all online’), the bus industry has been hugely affected by political decisions (such as deregulation and privatisation) and declining patronage.
In this talk we looked at how bus operators and local authorities throughout mainland Britain, outside London, have responded, showing the many and varied ways of dealing with these challenges. You can view the talk here.
THE ORDNANCE SURVEY COUNTY SURVEY AND THE HISTORICAL BOUNDARIES OF WALES, by Scott Lloyd.
Tuesday 8th October 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
The administrative boundaries depicted on the first edition county survey mapping undertaken by Ordnance Survey were the result of detailed investigations in the field. This talk will explore the process of how the boundaries were recorded what type of boundaries were printed on the maps and how the OS changed its policy during the survey of Wales. Some of the earlier mapping that informed the OS will be discussed and the digital outputs of this research will be demonstrated.
Scott Lloyd is the Research Manager at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales and is currently recreating the historic administrative boundaries of Wales and working on a digital Historical Atlas of Wales. He has worked on the AHRC Funded Deep Mapping Estate Archives project which won the 2022 BCS Ordnance Survey Award and is currently involved with the Mapping the March project with Bristol University which will produce detailed maps of the medieval Marcher Lordships. He is also author of The Arthurian Place Names of Wales, published by the University of Wales Press in 2017.
NEXT MIDLAND GROUP MEETING
Tuesday 24th September 2024, 7:30pm. Wall, Lichfield.
The venue details are the same (Watling Street, Wall, Lichfield, Staffs. WS14 0AW). The topic for the evening will be "Pencil and Ink: the joy of annotated maps". For more information please email Lez Watson
SCOTTISH ORDNANCE SURVEY NAME BOOKS, by Nevis Hulme.
Tuesday 17th September 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
This talk gave a brief overview of how the OSNBs are presented online followed by an examination of methods used to record names. This will include a look at the varied layout of OSNBs, the paper forms used by the OS for this work and how people of the areas being surveyed contributed to the collection of names. This could probably be the most detailed examination of the structure of OSNBs given to date.
DEFENCE SURVEYORS' ASSOCIATION SEMINAR, Planning and Logistics for D-Day.
Thursday 19th September 2024, 10am to 5pm. Southsea, Portsmouth. PO5 3NT.
The Defence Surveyors' Association (DSA) has another seminar planned for mid-September. The programme, speakers and further details can be seen here.
The cost of the Seminar is £40 per person, DSA Members have a £5 reduction. For non-members, there is an offer of the Seminar and membership of the DSA (including Ranger) for 2024 for £50. Booking and payment are via the following link: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/defence-surveyors-association should you be interested.
Details of the Museum including location, parking and other facts, can be accessed online here: The D-Day Story, Portsmouth.
BRITISH CARTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY (BCS) CONFERENCE.
4th to 5th September 2024, University College, London.
The BCS has their annual conference in early September, the programme this year is quite varied. It includes speakers from the Financial Times, Ordnance Survey, Office for National Statistics, Mott MacDonald, EDINA and GeoPlace as well as internationally recognised consultants with the World Bank and some of the latest PhD research.
They will present on subjects ranging from AI, media mapping and building information management (BIM) through to the future challenges for cartography from remote sensing to mapping in local authorities and the influence of cartography in the work of a ceramics artist. They will also be announcing the winners of the BCS Design Awards 2024.
For more information visit the website page here, to register your attendance please visit Eventbrite page here. For more information, please contact the BCS specifically Catherine Colley by email.
As the Society is partnered to the BCS, we can register for the Conference day on the 5th at the reduced member rates, these being £90 if paid for by your employer; or £75 if self-funded. The Hack Day on the 4th is open to all.
ONLINE TALK by Peter Vujakovič, Emeritus Professor of Geography, Canterbury Christ Church University
Tuesday 20th August 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
Peter spoke on the subject ‘Catch Them Young! Introducing children to meaningful mapwork’. This talk discusses recent work in partnership with the Historic Towns Trust, the British Cartographic Society, and Canterbury Christ Church University to support teachers in the developing meaningful map and fieldwork for history and geography at Primary level, using OS maps, both contemporary and historical, as well as other maps sources and remote sensing imagery.
ANOTHER LONDON SHOW-AND-TELL MEETING
Saturday 10th August 2024, 10:30am, Highgate, London.
Enjoy another sociable CCS members’ map meeting at the excellent Woodman pub, 414 Archway Road, Highgate N6 5UA, see here.
Regulars will know it’s easy to reach, right next door to Highgate Underground (Northern line, High Barnet branch). To avoid a lot of stairs, take the ‘Exit 3’ escalator up to Archway Road, turn right and the pub entrance is just around the corner in Muswell Hill Road. For early arrivals, there’s even a small car park at the back, off Wood Lane which has plenty of free street parking lower down.
There’s no charge but please reserve a place – see below – and food and drink will as usual be at your own expense. The Woodman’s prices are very reasonable for London and the menu, drink and service is excellent. If it’s a warm day we could even have lunch outside. We’ll begin at 10.30 (with hot and cold drinks available) and maps shown and discussed from about 11.00, lunch from 1pm (choose your own food and drinks – see their website), continuing after lunch until we run out of maps or steam!
The theme this time will be 'Sporting London', to be run with any way you wish! But don’t worry – it can be any topic you like if you can talk about it. It doesn’t even have to be OS material, but of course please bring it if you have it. If you have surplus maps for sale, or swaps, bring them along and you’ll be extra popular!
ONLINE TALK by Giles Darkes, Cartographic Editor, Historic Towns Trust
Tuesday 16th July 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
Giles will talk on the subject 'Turning an OS into history: publishing a Town & City Historical Map'. This map is available to CCS members post free from the CCS website.
VISIT TO DENNIS MAPS LTD
Tuesday 25th June 2024, 11:30am. Frome, Somerset.
Thanks to Steve Burry, CEO and CCS member, we were invited to pay another visit to Frome to see Dennis Maps in action, printing not only Ordnance Survey maps but also those of many other British and Irish surveys.
CENTRAL LONDON WALK with John King
Wednesday 29th May 2024, 11am. London.
A circular walk that lasted just over 2 hours in the area around St James’s Park station, just over 2 miles in length. It included reference to the actual station, 55 Broadway (London’s first skyscraper), two garages, C19 apartment blocks, the Blewcoat School, Caxton Hall, Victoria Street, the Devil’s Acre, a mosaic Peabody Trust buildings, a cock fighting site, early C18 grand housing, C20 spies and lots more. It is not specifically a cartographic walk but it does reveal many rich layers of history. As usual on these walks a map will be provided at the end, and donations will be requested to the Maggie’s Centres charity.
2024 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 11th May 2024, Grantham, Lincolnshire.
The Society's AGM was held in Grantham this year on Saturday 11th May. Details on this are in the April edition of Sheetlines.
ONLINE TALK BY KEITH LILLEY, Beneath the lines: mapping medieval townscapes using large scale OS maps
Tuesday 23rd April 2024, 7.30pm. Zoom.
What lies beneath the lines on the map? The larger scale OS maps of Great Britain and Ireland show features of the historic urban landscape in great detail. In this talk, Keith Lilley explained the importance and significance of these cartographic features for mapping out the origins and evolution of our towns and cities. The lines on the map are a 'window' onto a much more distant medieval past, helping us to see how urban landscapes took shape on the ground so many centuries ago. Available to view from the CCS website here.
FURTHER ONLINE EVENT PLANNED FOR CCS MEMBERS
Thursday 14th March 2024, 5pm, Zoom.
by A. Crispin Jewitt, author of Maps for Empire, 2nd edition.
Crispin Jewitt gives an illustrated talk about his brand new CCS publication, available next week. First published in 1992 by the British Library, this new edition contains much new information and colour illustrations, describing the first 2000 sequentially numbered maps or map series issued by IDWO, TSGS, AND GSGS. Available to buy from the CCS website here.
LATEST LONDON SOCIETY SHOW-AND-TELL MEETING
Saturday 23rd March 2024, 10:30am.
Enjoy another sociable members’ map meeting at the excellent Woodman pub, 414 Archway Road, Highgate N6 5UA.
Regulars will know it’s easy to reach, right next door to Highgate Underground (Northern line, High Barnet branch): to avoid stairs, take the exit 3 escalator up to top street level, turn right and the pub entrance is just around the corner in Muswell Hill Road. For early arrivals, there’s even a small car park at the back, off Wood Lane which has free street parking lower down.
There’s no charge but reserve a place below. We’ll begin at 10:30am (hot drinks available) with maps shown from 11am, lunch from 1pm (choose your own meals and drinks), continuing till about 4pm or we run out of maps or voices (unlikely!). You can pay your own way with the wide variety of drinks and good food.
The theme this time is 'Expanding London', to be interpreted in any way you wish! Perhaps old maps showing greenery before the bricks took over, new maps with historical interpretations of geology, rivers or the old city – Londinium or Lundenwic perhaps, the ever-expanding railways and other transport systems, housing and new road developments, etc, etc. Doesn’t have to be OS material, but of course please bring it if you have it. If you have some surplus maps for sale or gifts, bring them along and announce them – you’ll be popular!
If you are a member and wish to reserve a place, please email Gerry Zierler as soon as possible and no later than 21st March.
DEFENCE SURVEYORS ASSOCIATION (DSA) HUGHENDEN MANOR 'HILLSIDE' VISIT
Thursday 28th March 2024.
Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, is a Victorian mansion with earlier origins that served as the Prime Minister's country house, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. It is owned by the National Trust and open to the public. It sits on the brow of the hill west of the main A4128 road that links Hughenden to High Wycombe. HP14 4LA
At the start of WW2 there were few accurate Allied maps of Germany, and early RAF bombing raids were ineffective, leading to the need to set up a map-making operation. Hughenden was requisitioned by the Air Ministry from 1941-46 and, code-named "Hillside", the home of Air Intelligence 1b, the Air Ministry branch responsible for producing the target maps to plan and carry out every mission During the war, it was equipped with small-format Roland printing machines responsible for producing foolscap size RAF Target Maps. It also produced lattice overlays for aeronautical charts. "Hillside" moved to Bushy Park shortly after the war and became No. 2 SPC.
For more information on the day's programme of events, lunch and how to book, please see the flyer here.
ONLINE TALK, The Ordnance surveys of Kent of 1788 and 1795
Tuesday 23rd January 2024, 7:30pm. Zoom
Dr. Rob Wheeler presented what started off as a ramble through the OSDs but developed a focus on two rather beautiful maps of Kent, drawn at a time when the engraved one-inch was at most a bright idea that might or might not come to pass.
There will still be a few digressions en route, including what might be claimed as the earliest OS map that can be viewed online and an intriguing series of Specials that never happened.
View the recording here, streaming length: 1h 20m