The Maps in the National Library of Scotland

This page describes how to use the maps of the National Library of Scotland to compare current features as seen by aerial photography with historic maps of an area.

One of the most interesting features is the ability to overlay (superimpose) two maps and use a slider control to change the view comparing to two maps.

Warning: If you change the transparency of the maps it will "Break the Back Button"

You can search the NLS archive for maps of the Belchamp Walter area. I include links to some below.

Whoever was responsible for the digitzation of these maps needs to be commended. There are warnings about respecting copyright and I recommend that you read and abide by them. Most of the material seems to be governed by Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) licence. When reproducing any of the maps, or derivative work therof, the attribution:

Rendering on a tablet

While the maps do display on a tablet or touch screen device the full potential of the maps is experienced using a personal computer.

Using the NLS maps interface

This is not as straight forward as just visiting their website.

Whenever I have visited the nls.org website I have been confused into how to get an "overlay" map. I have included a link below to such a map and I will have to determine how I got there!

It seems that the way is to get a page on the nls website that "explore a georeferenced maps". I have a link below, this was found by searching the nls website (and I thought that I was bad!). However, the best way is to use the link my page showing the overlay of Belchamp Walter water mill with the old map showing the path of the mill race. (link above).

The use of this technique for other areas

While I have come across this technique to display my findings and research for Belchamp Walter the technique would work for any area.

For example, I searched for Great Wakering as a "mordern placename" and this worked quite well.