British Isles Non Survey Maps

 

Non survey maps are listed under region and country. That is, there are maps for the whole of the British Isles and many more of the component countries England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

Similarly there are maps for the whole of Europe and many more for each country. North America and South America have recently been added along with Oceana and broader regions for Oceans and World maps.

Survey Maps are listed by region in the Main Menu

 

 

British Isles Survey Maps

 

The geological mapping of the British Isles is prolific and complex to organise. There are two broad categories - Survey and non-survey. However, geographically there are two major islands - Ireland and Great Britain; politically there are presently two states - the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom; and there are four nations - the English, the Irish, the Scottish and the Welsh.

History

The organisation in the left hand column follows the national divisions, with subdivisions of non-survey and Survey. There are two further units: 'British Isles' to cover maps that include the whole area; and 'Islands' to cover the 'off-shore' Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. There is an England and Wales section to accommodate the way the Geological Surveys have been divided historically.
The Geological Surveys historically have operated as three organisations - England and Wales, Ireland, and Scotland (in historical order). Ireland was the first island to have complete geological mapping published at the one inch to the mile scale on a layout and numbering system that has remained the same despite partition into the Republic and Northern Ireland. Scotland's mapping was the last to be completed and published at one inch scale again on a layout and numbering system that has not changed. England and Wales were mapped as a single entity at the one inch scale on the Old Series layout upto from 1845 to 1900. The format was standardised and the layout rationalised to be come the New Series which is still with us.
An index map of the layout and numbering of sheets is available for each of the one inch Geological Surveys. When you click on the particular nation in the left hand column of the British Isles page, in the next layer, you will see the option in the left hand column to click on the index map for that nation.

History (continued)

Mapping at six inch scale was carried out initially in Ireland at the six inch to one mile scale and was regarded as such a practical scale for the mapping exercise that it was adopted retrospectively in England and Wales and from the outset in Scotland. The Irish six inch mapping remained in manuscript form. In England and Wales, and in Scotland, areas of economic and/or professional interest were published at the six inch scale. Up to the 1940s it was organised and published on county map series. We have an extensive holding of nineteenth and early twentieth scale mapping at six inch in county series, particularly of coal mining areas. Apart from Yorkshire and Lancashire, these maps are not listed on the website yet; if you are interested in other six inch geological maps, please contact us .
Upto 1900, the only method of production was engraving then hand colouring, although uncoloured maps could be purchased. Colour printing was introduced in 1900-01 in the Great Britain. However, there was a lag and hand coloured maps from the pre-1900 production persisted where colour printed maps were not yet available. Old Old Series mapping of England and Wales is hand coloured. Where hand colouring occurs on post 1900 maps, it is noted in the individual map descriptions.

Sections

Sections. Where sections are published, they are listed below the map entries. Prior to 1900 separate sheets of horizontal sections were published as hand-coloured engravings. These were selected to reveal geological structures and were not confined to individual maps. Our holdings for these are virtually all for England and Wales for which 148 sheets of horizontal sections were published. By comparison, only 9 were published for Scotland and 37 for Ireland. The Geological Survey of England and Wales published folio pages of vertical sections, mainly of coal mining areas.

Survey Map List

The Geological Survey Maps for the British Isles are listed as follows:

England & Wales

1 inch Old Series
1 inch New Series
London 6 inch County List
Lancashire 6 inch County List
Yorkshire 6 inch County List
Quarter inch List

Ireland

1 inch List
Quarter inch list

Scotland

1 inch List
6 inch List
Quarter inch List