East Lothian, known as Haddingtonshire until 1921, sits to the east of Edinburgh. Local Government Reorganisation in 1975 saw it gain the coastal burgh of Musselburgh from neighbouring Midlothian. That town is now the largest in the county, closely followed by Dunbar and its county town of Haddington. Its situation between Edinburgh and England has seen it witness some of Scotland’s most […]
Author: Craig Statham
Zoom into Midlothian
Midlothian is situated south of Edinburgh, and emerged as a county in the Middle Ages, also being known as Edinburghshire until 1921. The Local Government Reorganisation in 1975 saw it lose vast swathes of land to Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian and the Scottish Borders. Most of the settlements lost at this time were relatively […]
The Ordnance Survey’s 1:500 Town Plans
One of the most intriguing Ordnance Survey map series in the National Library of Scotland’s collection is the 1:500 Town Plans (as well as some at a scale of 1:528). These were produced in the latter half of the 19th century and very early 20th century, and cover most towns with a population over around […]
Map of the Month: John Finlayson’s ‘A Plan of the battle of Culloden’
John Finlayson’s plan of the Battle of Culloden November’s Map of the Month is a plan of the Culloden battlefield, probably created in 1746 by John Finlayson. Finlayson was a Jacobite sympathiser who fought in Charles Edward Stewart’s army, and this means that we need to view his map with a sceptical eye as he […]
Copyright in a Post Brexit World
On 13th October the National Library of Scotland hosted a Special Libraries Association event that saw Professor Charles Oppenheim give a talk titled ‘Copyright in a Post Brexit World’. After a brief introduction by John Coll, Head of Access at the Library, began by giving an overview of copyright: copyright basics what can be copyrighted how long […]
Revolution: Mapping the Road to American Independence 1755-1783
At the National Library of Scotland’s Maps Reading Room we are often asked to provide maps for all manner of media. From pamphlets produced by a local church, through books and exhibitions, to major motion pictures. So a request to use Paul Sandby’s ‘Plan of Castle Tyrim’ in a book did not raise many eyebrows. However, when the […]
How you can use our maps
Our readers buy maps from us for a range of reasons. Some people want to hang the map on their living room wall. Others might use it in a planning application. We also get quite a number of readers using map images in books. Recently we had a member of Scottish Brewing Heritage contact us and […]
John Wood’s map of Dunbar
There are many unique maps in the Library’s vast collection. Many of these are available on the maps website, and our digital team are striving to put many more on in the coming years. But occasionally a map is conspicuous by its absence. That was just the case for John Wood’s map of Dunbar.
The Library’s new 3D map viewer
The Maps Reading Room digital team is always looking for new ways to add even more value to the maps in the Library’s collection. For example, they’ve geo-referenced a number of our maps, and also offered up the ability to compare maps side-by-side. In the past few days they’ve put a 3D map viewer online. We think […]
Triangulation
The maps collection held by the National Library of Scotland is one of the finest in the world, and the foundation of the collection are the Ordnance Survey maps first produced in the mid-19th century. These maps, and those that followed, were made possible by a process called triangulation. Triangulation is a means of determining the location […]