South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 24/04/2014

Know Your Place enables people to view digital maps of a locality through the ages and see how an area has changed. Development funding of £52,300 has been awarded as part of HLF’s initial support to enable the partnership to progress their plans to apply for a full grant at a later date.

The project will be working with local councils, community groups and the British Library to bring historic maps together in a single regional online portal. The project will identify all the maps that relate to the region and then allow people to search them through a digital portal. Volunteers will work on digitising maps and adding content such as photographs to the maps to help people understand how an area has changed.

The earliest maps to be digitised will date from mid-19th century Tithe maps and will go right up to the latest Ordnance Survey maps.

Martin Burton, Community Cultural Services Manager at South Gloucestershire Council, said "We are grateful for the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund to fund the development of this exciting project which will use digital technology to enable people to see how their street or community has changed over the years. Through working with the volunteers and local councils we will be able to provide a major resource for local people researching their area."

Nerys Watts, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said: "The Know Your Place project is a significant project not just for the South West but in the development of historical community mapping projects. This project will open up access to these wonderful ancient maps and give people a fascinating insight into their local heritage and how the areas they live and work in today have been shaped over the years."

The Know Your Place project will extend the digital mapping project which has been successfully introduced by Bristol City Council to cover other local councils including South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bath & North East Somerset, North Somerset and Somerset.