Map-making technology came to England in the 16th century, chiefly from the Netherlands. Eastern counties of England were the first to use the new geometry and cartography on any scale. The new techniques took a long time to spread westwards and there are only a few estate or parish maps before the 18th century.

The Government's Ordnance Survey board made small scale maps including Somerset in the early 19th century, but the first large scale published OS maps date from the 1880s (on two scales 1:10,560 or "6-inch" and 1:2,500 or "25 inch"). A second edition of these maps was published in the 1900s, and a second edition revised in the 1920s and 1930s.

For more detailed information about maps held at the Somerset Heritage Centre, please see our maps leaflet (PDF - new window). 

The 6" first and second edition Ordnance Survey maps of Somerset are available below. 
Please note that the quality of some of these images is poor.