O.S. maps

[stanmapstone]

The parcel numbers are often encountered in legal documents, which will sometimes take care to specify which edition of the 1:2500 is being referred to. From 1922 areas were calculated to the map edge only.

Stan

[Top-of-the-hill]

   Thanks Stan, I can see how this information could be useful for legal purposes. And thanks to everyone for your suggestions - it is so good to have all this knowledge to call on!

[jbml]

When I trained as a solicitor in the early 1990s I did a seat of agricultural property work, and we used these numbers all the time to identify the parcels of land in a conveyance or lease; and the surveyors used them when drawing up "terriers" and such like.

This was in East Anglia, where hardly any of the agricultural land was registered (Norfolk and Suffolk were among the counties which did not become subject to compulsory registration until the "catch all" order was made in, if I recall correctly, 1994)

[Greensleeves]

Field numbers are also used in land management and for agricultural subsidies too.  In my work I used to create digital maps for conservation management, but when it came to field numbers, we would refer back to the old 'County Series' maps; whilst those maps were out of date, the same field numbers are still used.

This is a nice site for comparison between the old maps and today's aerial imagery. 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=16&lat=56.0000&lon=-4.0000&layers=168&right=BingHyb

Regards
GS

[Top-of-the-hill]

   I discovered the NLS site a while ago and I love it. I can spot old chalkpits and footpaths as crop marks in the modern half. Most of our field boundaries and woodlands are pretty much the same in both halves.

[mike175]

The old parcel numbers were specific to each parish whereas the system which replaced them is based on the National Grid, so every field now has a unique number to avoid any possible confusion. The current system locates a point approximately in the centre of the field.

I think the system changed after WW2, but I'm open to correction on that 

Mike.

[stanmapstone]

Work on the National Grid 1:2500 plans started in 1948. As you say parcels were denoted by the grid reference to the nearest 10 metres of the centres of the parcels giving each parcel a unique number within each 1:2500 plan. See https://maps.nls.uk/view/103029165#zoom=3&lat=6079&lon=3951&layers=BT

Stan