>Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 10:11:40 +0000 >From: [log in to unmask] (Tony Campbell) [cross posted by: [log in to unmask]] ----------------------------------------------------------- A MACHINE-READABLE MAP OF ENGLISH AND WELSH HISTORIC PARISH BOUNDARIES A NEW RESEARCH PROJECT AT EXETER UNIVERSITY, UK ----------------------------------------------------------- I am pleased to announce that the UK Economic and Social Science Research Council has agreed to fund the above project at Exeter. Dr Richard Oliver will be employed as research fellow from 1st January 1998. The following is a copy of the ESRC press release: "This project will reconstruct and make available in electronic map form the boundaries of all the pre-1850 parishes, townships and other local administrative districts of England and Wales (the so-called 'ancient' or 'historic' parishes). A comprehensive gazetteer recording the archival provenance of all the boundaries will accompany the map. The need of such a map has been long-felt but its production has only become realistic at relatively modest cost by the completion of recent Leverhulme Trust and ESRC funded work at Exeter University on tithe surveys (compiled after 1836 in the process of reforming the wqy that the Church of England was financed) and on enclosure maps (used to record land ownership as the process of enclosure brought about the change from communal to individual exploitation). These projects provide us with about 85 per cent of 'ancient parish' boundaries. We will fill this gap by reference to other sources, compile a complete map on a National Grid base, and publish the map and accompanying gazetteer as a CDROM. This will serve both users who wish to download boundaries into a GIS platform and those who want to print a paper copy of the boundaries in a particular locality." ------------------------------------------------------------ [log in to unmask] Roger Kain Department of Geography, University of Exeter, EXETER EX4 4RJ, United Kingdom Tel 01392 263333 [+44 1392 263333] Fax 01392 263342 [+44 1392 263342] Home Fax 01395 223754 [+44 1395 223754] ------------------------------------------------------------