Ordnance Survey: Directorate of Field Survey: Original Name Books

Reference:

OS 34

Title:

Description:

The documents in this series consist of folders containing information on geographical features, villages, hamlets and individual buildings (often with names of owner or occupier) within each parish, including place names and the authority for their spelling. They comprise the earliest surviving record of place names in England and Wales collected by the Ordnance Survey.

Only books relating to the counties of Cumberland, Durham, Hampshire, Northumberland and Westmorland survived enemy action in 1940.

Date:

1853-1866

Arrangement:

The information is arranged, in table form, under the following headings:

List of names

Various modes of spelling the same name

Authority for the modes of spelling

Situation

Descriptive remarks or other general observations

Most of the books are indexed. Information recorded from a single parish often fills more than one book: where this has occurred each book has been allocated a separate piece number. Conversely, many volumes relate to an area wider than that of the parish named in the catalogue: parishes not named in the catalogue should be sought in volumes relating to adjoining parishes.

Separated Material:

A separate series of original name books for Scotland is in the Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh.

Held by:

The National Archives, Kew

Legal status:

Public Record

Language:

English

Physical description:

469 volume(s)

Administrative / biographical background:

The Ordnance Survey has always assumed responsibility for deciding what place names are to appear on its maps and how they should be spelt. Apart from certain administrative names which follow the spelling of the Act of Parliament by which they were created, there is no national body in the United Kingdom responsible for the naming and spelling of places which appear on official maps or other documents.

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