The maps below are widely available on the internet. There are many other excellent and informative mapping services which cannot be reproduced here for copyright reasons but which are well worth consulting. In particular, the National Library of Scotland website has an extensive collection of OS maps, notably the highly detailed OS 25 inch series produced between 1841 and 1952. This site also offers amazing zoom and overlay facilities.
The 1770 Harvey survey
In 1770 the Harvey family owned most of the lands in and around Hempstead. A survey was conducted by Owen Swan which mapped all the separate farms and holdings and gave details of the measurement of each field in acres, rods and perches. The complete survey can be found here.
The 1842 tithe map
Since Anglo-Saxon times, tithes had been levied on people, entitling the church to one tenth of their annual revenue or produce. By the early 19th century, the tithe system had become unwieldy and unpopular. The Tithe Commutation Act 1836 converted tithes into cash payments (which were eventually abolished in 1936). Tithe awards were based on detailed, large scale maps of each parish, giving the name of the holding, the landowner and occupier, the type of cultivation (pasture, arable, woodland etc) and the measurement in acres, rods and perches.
Below is the 1842 tithe map of the Parish, showing all 616 individual fields and houses. You can access a key to the various entries here. Colouring the map according to the landowner has produced a revealing picture of who owned Hempstead at the time and this in turn has led to some very interesting discoveries. See the section on Puzzles for more information about this.
Parish boundary changes
The map below shows the small changes in the parish boundaries that have taken place between 1842 (red) and now (blue). Essentially we have lost a couple of 7 acre fields known as Sleepers Piece and Sleepers Grove, and gained about 30 acres to the north east of Great Dawkins. Is there an interesting story behind this, or was it just the work of a mapmaker or council official with a love of straight lines?
