The Beauty of Maps … What’s in your 2km zone (Part 1)
If you are finding yourself with some spare time, and bored of cat videos, why not try some detective work about the built heritage in your own locality?
The National Monuments website has a link to a “Historic Environment Viewer” which is an online digital service provided by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
On this site you can access to the databases of the National Monuments Service Sites and Monuments Record (SMR), and the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH). Six maps on the site include :
- The First Edition 6 inch OS maps, which were printed between 1837 and 1842 and the Historic 25 inch maps printed from 1888- 1913.
- An additional layer has the archaeological sites indicated as red dots and structures included in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, indicated by blue dots, which link you to data about the individual structures.
It is very interesting to see the expansion of Tramore, for example, from a fishing village on the First Edition 6 Inch OS Map to the Victorian seaside resort of the Historic 25 inch Maps.
On the earlier map, the then village is located along present day Main Street, Stand Street, Patrick Street and Queen Street and is mainly surrounded by fields. The later maps show the development of the town as it began to expand rapidly both as a seaside resort and a dormitory town for Waterford City, with opening of the Waterford and Tramore Railway Line in 1853.
Anyone building a house in the town had the building material carried at a reduced rate by the Railway Company. As a result of this incentive, imposing terraces of houses such as Bellevue and Gurteen Terrace were constructed. The street pattern of development was determined by the topography. The building of Harney’s seawall in 1893 further increased the tourism potential for Tramore. To the east, the maps indicate the changes due to the reclamation works at Lisselan and the Backstrand.
Our next article will look at archaeology and maps, but in the meantime why not check out the links about and see what is within your 2km zone to explore.
