Historic Archive Index

Will you confirm or deny under the FOIA that the survey has in fact an index of the mapping it holds in its historical archive or not?

Thank you for your letter dated 11^th July 2011. I regret to inform you that Ordnance Survey does not hold the information you have requested, as we no longer have a historical archive.

The collection of past editions, known as the ‘historic map archive’ was never a formal archive of past editions.  It was always a working resource of previous mapping editions, used by Ordnance Survey in the conduct of its normal operations.  For a variety of reasons, including destruction by enemy action and fire, it was not a complete collection of all editions of all maps. 

Ordnance Survey’s operational needs to refer to a historic archive diminished to a point where it was no longer appropriate that we sustain the collection, and the archive closed in July 2008. 

In line with the Legal Deposit Libraries Act, Ordnance Survey, as a commercial publisher, has over many years, deposited copies of all of its publications with the six Legal Deposit Libraries and during the disposal of the Ordnance Survey historic map archive, these Legal Deposit Libraries had an opportunity to supplement or replace their own much more comprehensive holdings. 

You may contact wish to contact one or more of the legal deposit libraries to determine if they can provide you with a list of the historic materials they hold:

The British Library
Web: http://portico.bl.uk/ 
Email: maps@bl.gov.uk 
Tel: 020 7412 7702

Bodleian Library Oxford
Web: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/library/rooms/nbrr 
Email: maps@bodley.ox.ac.uk 
Tel: 01865 (2)77013

Cambridge University Library
Web: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/ 
Email: library@lib.cam.ac.uk.
Tel: 01223 333000

National Library of Scotland
Web: http://www.nls.uk/collections/maps/index.html 
Email: maps@nls.uk 
Tel: 0131 623 3970

Library of Trinity College Dublin
Web: http://www.tcd.ie/Library/libraries/map.php 
Email: map.library@tcd.ie 
Tel: (+353 1) 896 2087/1544

National Library of Wales
Web: http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=maps 
Email: holi@llgc.org.uk 
Tel: 01970 632933

TNA (The National Archive) also took a number of maps which held manuscript annotations as these qualified as Public Records under the Public Records Acts.

Ordnance Survey does hold a deposit record detailing the distribution of some archive material to various places of deposit following the closure of our Historic Map Archive, but this is by no means an index.

The deposit records do not make reference to each individual sheet or item, but in some instances detail archive materials purely by county and/or scale.  This is because some of the items were duplicate copies of an original, and not considered a ‘unique’ item and because of the vast quantities.

Your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. As the requested information is not held, we have determined that in all the circumstances of this case the Public interest consideration (section 17 FOIA) is not applicable in this instance.

If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI11198/July 2011