1900 MAPS & SURVEYS – LIZ CARTER

On a very warm evening a good number of members & guests listened to Liz detailing the history of survey maps. Originally they were ordinance maps for military use & these were the bases for the 1910 survey maps.
Liz demonstrated three internet sites of these surveys & with the scale of 6 & 25 inches to the mile they showed every detail on a town map.
These surveys were used for Tax purposes & we saw hand coloured charts with letters used to denote buildings with their precise description in a ‘code’ i.e. house B&T- meaning a house made of brick & tile & numbers used as reference to areas of land large & small.
Surveyors would visit a site & take detailed descriptions of all buildings & measure land & an appropriate rate of tax was realised.
After the 1914 war large estates were often broken up to pay death duties, & in1920 the rating office took over.
Often rate books can be found in the local archives giving details of owner /occupiers, the address & description & valuation of a property & the rates paid.
As Liz explained if you knew where a relative lived you could, through the rate book, & with the reference numbers, find out if they owned the property where they lived, if land was attached & a description of the house.
The field book, again available in archives, would give detailed description of the physical condition of the house, the number of rooms & would give the value of the property, land & easements i,e, paths & poles etc – the value & whether the owner agreed to the result of the valuation.. This talk was very informative & the large Walsoken Rate book 1925, on loan to our Society,& Liz’s maps etc were on display & helped us to understand the rating system.
No meeting in August but important dates for us are;
14th Sept. Heritage Day at the Octavia Hill Museum Wisbech, where the society will have displays of local well known people & offer help with research.
26th Sept . Our AGM followed by a talk by our President Wim Zwalf
28th Sept. Our Family History Day form 10am – 4pm in St Peters Church Hall Wisbech
Our own members will be there to do look ups & give advice, plus visiting Family History Societies, Help in our local Museum to use their facilities & the local Library where there will be lessons on how to use the internet & the library facilities & also on line help for Military questions.
Refreshments available all day.
[Barbara Holmes]