The way we were

The county council's record office and historic environment and archaeological teams have brought the 18th and 19th Centuries back to life by digitally recording more than 120 maps.

The changing shape of Worcestershire is shown through the documents. They highlight the enclosure of land in the late 18th and early 19th Century and the mid-19th Century assessment of holdings during the survey of the Tithe Commissioners.

County Archaelogist Malcolm Atkin, said on some of these maps it was now possible to create 3-D images of how Worcestershire would have looked more than 200 years ago and compare it to the modern day with the GIS (Geographic Information System).

"The maps not only show the landscape, but also the information collated at the time, such as who owned the land, the tenant, the land's value, all at the touch of a button," he said.

"Normally it would have taken months scouring over the old maps and data to access this information, so this is a very powerful tool."

The project began 12 years ago when Archaeology Service volunteer David Guyatt began tracing the original maps in Worcestershire Record Office and transcribe them on to an OS base.

A digitising tablet was then moved over these tracings to map them on to computer, to help form the eventual database. Thirty such maps are now available for viewing over the internet at www.worcestershiremaps.org.uk

All the digitised maps will be available for public consultation in the HQ Record Office at County Hall, at the History Centre in Trinity Street, Worcester and at the Historic Environment and Archaeology Service Unit based at University College Worcester from this month onwards.

The project was launched by Sarah Tyacke, Chief Executive of The National Archives, at the History Centre, Trinity Street, Worcester on Monday.

There will also be introductory talks by County Archivist Tony Wherry and County Archaeologist Malcolm Atkin.