Catalogue description Records of the Boundaries Branch

Details of Division within OS
Reference: Division within OS
Title: Records of the Boundaries Branch
Description:

The information in the Boundary Remark Books (OS 26) was derived from surveys along parish and other boundaries with the assistance of local inhabitants (called meresmen) who were familiar with the course of ancient boundaries. That information was subsequently transferred to the Boundary Sketch Maps (OS 27) for display in the parish concerned. Comments by members of the public are recorded in the Journals of Inspection (OS 29). In some areas, the information typically recorded in the Boundary Remark Books and the Boundary Sketch Maps was combined and entered on a single series of maps, known as Field Sketch Maps (OS 28). All these series of documents were discontinued in 1893.

Boundary Documents, Miscellaneous, are in OS 12. Parish Name Books are in OS 23.

Boundaries after 1893 are recorded on the Boundary Record Maps: OS 31. Correspondence on Scottish Boundaries is in OS 30. Scottish Deposited Maps (DMS Series), are in OS 39.

County Files, Series I, are in OS 37; Series II are in OS 53.

Deposited Maps (DM and DMX Series), are in OS 38. Boundary Record Sheets, County Series (Quarter Sheets) are in OS 40. Boundary Record Sheets, County Series (Full Sheets), are in OS 41.

Boundary Record Sheets: Six-Inch and 1:10,000 National Grid, are in OS 42.

Boundary Perambulation Cards are in OS 77. Field files and County Files: Series II are in OS 79.

Ordnance Survey: Administrative Area Diagrams Archive, record maps, are in OS 76.

Further series dealing with the demarcation of boundaries are OS 24 (Union Files), OS 32 (Boundary Reports) and OS 33 (Six-Inch and 1:2,500 Revised Boundary Maps).

All the documents produced by the Boundaries Branch are annotated with a common set of authorised abbreviations. The following is a list of some of the most frequently used:

  • B - Borough
  • CB - County Borough
  • CP - Civil Parish
  • (Det) - Detached
  • Det Part' - detached areas separate from the main part of the parish.
  • LB - London Borough
  • LBD - London Borough District
  • MB - Municipal Borough
  • Met B - Metropolitan Borough
  • PB - Police Burgh
  • PH - Parish
  • RD - Rural District
  • TP - Township
  • UD - Urban District
Date: 1820-2010
Related material:

Printed series of Administrative Area Diagrams are contained in ZOS 2
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Creator:

Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, Boundaries Branch, 1849-
Physical description: 21 series
Publication note:

J R S Booth, Public Boundaries and Ordnance Survey 1840-1980 (Southampton, Ordnance Survey, 1980) is a full account of the work of the Boundaries Branch. It contains a useful glossary and a complete key to authorised abbreviations.
Administrative / biographical background:

The Ordnance Survey Act 1841 provided for the survey and ascertainment of public boundaries in Great Britain and the Isle of Man under the authority of the Board of Ordnance. A public boundary is a boundary relating to national or local government: the term includes principal and minor authority boundaries and all electoral boundaries, except parish and community warding, as defined in Statutory Orders of one kind or another. Public boundaries do not include private property boundaries.

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