28 July 2000

Historic map reroots Parliament Tree

Ordnance Survey helps MP's heritage search

A piece of England's social and political heritage has been brought back to life - thanks to historic mapping from Ordnance Survey.

In the days when Old Sarum in Wiltshire was a rotten borough - a parliamentary seat with only a few voters - elections would take place under an elm tree in the market place. Current Salisbury MP Robert Key has long wanted to commemorate the original Parliament Tree, which died in 1905.

He engaged the help of Ordnance Survey, who were able to pinpoint its exact location from an 1881 map showing the tree's name. Mr Key replanted a new Parliament Tree on the same spot at a ceremony organised by English Heritage and involving actors in period costume recounting the story of the site.

Ordnance Survey staff presented facsimile 1881 maps to guests, who included Councillor Beryl Jay, chairman of Salisbury District Council, and the town's deputy mayor, Councillor Ian Tomes. The Old Sarum seat, famous for returning William Pitt to Parliament, was abolished along with many other rotten boroughs by the Great Reform Act of 1832.

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