Hampshire Waterways

Ordnance Survey field drawing (1807)

The surveys for each of the ‘Old Series’ One Inch maps were collated by the surveyors onto preliminary drawings on paper at a scale of two inches to the mile (1/31,680) using pen and ink. It was from these that the copper printing plates were engraved by hand at One Inch (1/63,360) scale. Starting with the mapping of Kent and working along the South Coast, this series of maps was originally prompted by the threat of an invasion by the French under Napoleon. These drawings were working documents, now over 200 years old, and in places are a bit the worse for wear.

These documents are now held by the British Library and are available on Wikimedia Commons as normal image files albeit quite large. These files are licensed under the National Archives: Open Government Licence version 1.0 (OGL v1.0).

This page gives access to the file containing a copy of the original surveyor’s drawing made in 1807 covering central southern Hampshire from Southampton north to Winchester and from Romsey in the west to Bishop’s Waltham. As a working document, it has suffered damage over the years but the whole of the Itchen Navigation is shown. It shows the locks from Winchester to Wood Mill by a double chevron symbol (except Wood Mill through lack of space) but does not name them. This link will open the file (size 5.12 MB) in a new window or tab Ordnance Survey Drawing covering the Itchen Navigation in 1807. Using your browser, you should be able to scroll around and enlarge this map as required.

Ordnance Survey Old Series One Inch Map 1810

This page also gives access to extracts covering the Navigation from the One Inch (Old Series) map that was engraved from the field drawing and published in 1810. These images are based on data provided through www.VisionofBritain.org.uk. and uses historical material which is copyright of the Great Britain Historical GIS Project and the University of Portsmouth, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

1810 OS Old Series map (north)

A map of the Navigation from Winchester to south of Shawford published at 1/63,360 scale.

Map published: 1810.
Approx centre of map - NG Ref: SU456267. WGS84: 51° 02′ 17″ N, 1° 21′ 03″ W.
(104.2KB)

1810 OS Old Series map (central)

A map of the Navigation from south of Shawford to Chicken Hall Farm published at 1/63,360 scale.

Map published: 1810.
Approx centre of map - NG Ref: SU458207. WGS84: 50° 59′ 04″ N, 1° 20′ 52″ W.
(113.7KB)

1810 OS Old Series map (south)

A map of the Navigation from Chicken Hall Farm to Northam published at 1/63,360 scale.

Map published: 1810.
Approx centre of map - NG Ref: SU462151. WGS84: 50° 56′ 03″ N, 1° 20′ 38″ W.
(114.4KB)

Ordnance Survey large scale mapping

Images of large scale mapping of Great Britain at ‘six inch’ (1/10,560) and ‘twenty five inch’ (1/2,500) scales are viewable online. Probably the best place to view these is the National Library of Scotland website. Editions covering the period from the 1840s until the 1960s are held. However, not all editions of a particular sheet may be available as a few, particularly early editions, are missing. The earliest cover of the Itchen Navigation dates from the late 1860s when the waterway was still in use.

Current Ordnance Survey mapping

Of course, current OS mapping is available from many booksellers, tourist offices and the online OS shop. The walker will probably find either the Landranger (1/50,000) or the larger scale Explorer (1/25,000) series most suits his/her needs. It is also possible to subscribe on a monthly or annual basis to an app which allows maps at these scales countrywide to be displayed on a computer or a smartphone. Further details from the online OS shop.