Parishscapes Project 2007 - 2010
Digitised tithe maps
What are tithe maps and what do they tell us?
Tithe maps act as a historical record of land use in about 1840, in that they can be read along with apportionment tables which describe land use, type and tenure.
Maps were created by many different individuals and so there is a degree of variation between neighbouring parishes. Original maps (available to see by appointment at the Devon Record Office ) are sometimes extremely large, and therefore can be difficult to view or manipulate, which is also why we have digitised the tithe maps for this area. See right for an extract from the very detailed map for part of Sidmouth parish. |
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What does a digitised tithe map look like?
We are pleased to say that from 1 May 2009, you are now able to view 36 of the 1840 parish digitised tithe maps (covering all 29 modern day parishes of the East Devon AONB from Exmouth to Honiton and Uplyme). They work in a similar way to the Parishscapes CDs distributed to local history and parish groups, in that they can viewed through your web-browser and zoomed into using either the tools provided on the maps or using the browser zoom function.
To view a tithe map of your parish, please follow this link which will show you a map of the area covered and a table of all available digitised maps.
Once you have selected your tithe map you can then choose the relevant apportionment data from this link. If you open a new browser window, you can then view them together.
What does a completed land use map look like?
Click here to see a snapshot of land use in Bicton Parish in 1840, created using the tithe map and the accompanying apportionment data as above (12mb PDF). This represents another milestone for Parishscapes. We will gradually be able to give more parishes the same treatment. Similar maps could be generated for tenurial relations and landownership. Our thanks go to Martin Smith, our lead GIS volunteer. Martin has geo-rectified the Bicton tithe map, transcribed the apportionment onto Excel and populated the map with polygons (apologies for all the jargon!) and linked the apportionment with the map. Thanks also to The Knowle GIS team for all their help and support.
pplanel@eastdevon.gov.uk / 01404 46663 / 01404 549173 or 07734 568987