Map Collections at UCD and on the Web: Books and Gazetteers

Each county is depicted with maps which show: the civil/Church of Ireland parishes; the baronies and Church of Ireland dioceses; the poor law unions and the parishes included within the probate districts serving that county; the Roman Catholic parishes and dioceses; the Presbyterian congregations for the nine counties of Northern Ireland.

Edited by Thomas Larcom from a manuscript held in Trinity College Dublin and published for the Irish Archaeological Society

A guide to Irish Ordnance Survey maps with an introductory essay followed by a description of each series and an index diagram of sheet layout, or an example section of the series. Of particular use are the details of town plans issued and dates. It is a useful and straightforward guide to the range of OS pre-1922 map series.

In 1824, the Ordnance Survey was directed to map Ireland (as a prelude to a nationwide valuation of land and buildings) as quickly as possible on the large scale of six inches to the mile. The six-inch maps of Ireland appeared between 1835 and 1846. In the 1850s the production of both smaller and larger scale maps of Ireland was placed on a regular footing. Meanwhile a new and separate chain of events had begun in 1887 with the authorization of cadastral maps of Ireland on the scale of 25 inches to the mile.

The content of this book is described in this review article https://doi.org/10.1484/J.Peri.3.198

This is a cultural and intellectual history of the Ordnance Survey, which mapped Ireland from 1824 to 1846. Captain Thomas Larcom of the Survey intended to produce and encyclopaedia-like series of county memoirs to accompany the maps, a great survey that would explain Ireland literally, as the maps would represent it graphically. Though unpublished an immense amount of research was undertaken for the whole country. These memoir reports by Ordnance engineers, scholars and local civic assistants constitute a remarkable archive on culture, folklore, religious practices, oral histories and social structures, before much was swept away by the Famine, modernisation and anglicisation.

An introduction contains a brief history of Ireland, and then a selection of maps from the 1500s to the 1800s. There are maps of the entire country, of individual counties and of individual cities and towns. Each map is accompanied by text describing both the subject of the map, and the mapmaker.

1. Ptolemy's map of Ireland, 150 A.D. -- 2. Colour map of Europe, 1200 A.D., from Giraldus Cambrensis "Topography of Ireland" -- 3. Martin Waldseemüller: a seachart of Ireland, Strasbourg, 1513 -- 4. Gerald Mercator: map of Ireland, Duisburg, 1564 -- 5. The castle of Carrigfoile in Kerry -- 6. John Speed: plans of Limerick, Cork, Dublin, Galway, and Enniskillen Castle, London, 1611 [5 maps] -- 7. Down survey map of "Donnabrooke and Tanee," Co. Dublin, 1655-57 [by William Farrand] -- 8. William Petty: "A general mapp of Ireland," London, 1685 -- 9. Josias Bateman: colour chart of symbols used on estate maps, 1716 [not a map] -- 10. John Roe: colour map of the Manor of Lyons, the estate of Lord Cloncurry, 1801 -- 11. Richard Manning: colour estate map of Currabee, Dreenagh, Co. Cork, 1801-03 -- 12. Extracts from Ordnance Survey maps, 1837-1906 [3 maps and 1 legend] -- 13. Henry D. Harness: map of Ireland showing quantities of traffic, 1847 -- 14. Colour map of Ireland showing various public works, Dec. 1847 -- 15. Map of Ireland showing railways, 1906 -- 16. Thurloe Connolly: colour map of Europe showing Irish cultural influence from the sixth to the twelfth century, 1954.

Bringing together various lists, most hitherto unpublished, of large-scale mapping in the United Kingdom, this text provides map users, map curators and others with a description of each Ordnance Survey map scale as a source of information for the study of the landscape.

Includes chapter by J.H. Andrews "Classifying Early Irish Town Plans".

Consists of ten chapters by specialist authors on the cartographic, documentary, material and literary sources available for the study of Irish towns and their inhabitants through the centuries. Each chapter is amply illustrated with both line-drawings and photographs and also has a detailed bibliography. The book is enhanced by the inclusion of an extensive list of publications arranged by theme and town, respectively, as an appendix.

This guide to pre-1900 maps relating to Great Britain and Ireland records for the first time the rich cartographic heritage of these islands. Part Two of the book comprises a comprehensive survey of nearly 450 repositories, from the national libraries to the county record offices, and includes some of the private collections. There is a full record, for example, of the rich holdings of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges. Details are given on each institution's holdings, access, availability of originals, reproductions, indices.

This book introduces the local history practitioner to the world of maps - the special character (and appeal) of maps as an historical source, why they are invaluable in local history research, and questions that must be asked of them. The historical background to map creation in Ireland is outlined, with details on the major classes of cartographic and associated material and the repositories wherein they may be found. The Plantation series, travel and county maps, maps as part of published reports and journals, military mapping, estate and property mapping, and maritime maps, historic Ordnance Survey and Valuation Office maps, and more recent OS mapping, including the 1:50,000 Discovery series, are discussed.

Reading the Maps is a valuable companion book to the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series by Royal Irish Academy. Samples from the first 22 atlases are used to illustrate comparative, thematic, and specific studies of Irish urban history. Various town-types, from monastic to modern, show the numerous origins of urban culture, portraying the similarities and differences across the island of Ireland. The book is heavily illustrated with maps and views taken from the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series, along with sets of questions and observations that can be drawn from the detailed information.