Historical Maps

The map collections of RBWM Museums & Libraries and Maidenhead Heritage Centre were scanned in 2017, aided by a grant from South East Museums and organised by volunteers from SL6.org.uk.

There are almost 500 local maps available. Most have been geo-located which means that, with the surrounding map borders removed, they can be viewed alongside contemporary maps in the Side-by-Side tool. All are available with their collars too.

Many other individual maps of historical interest were scanned. They can be accessed via the Individual Maps page.

Sources and Copyright

Crown Copyright on Ordnance Survey maps lasts for 50 years. All the maps presented here are over 50 years old and are therefore out-of-copyright.

Other maps of England and beyond are from open or free-to-use data sources, published by Open Street Map, Google, government agencies and various voluntary groups.

Side-by-Side

The side-by-side map is best viewed on a desktop or on phone screens sideways-on.

The left side has a selection of historical maps for Great Britain, and extra layers for the SL6 area (Maidenhead). Historic England data is also available; more can be accessed via the dedicated Historic England map.

Land Registry land parcels have historical interest. Ghostly images of former road layouts are preserved in them.

The right side has a selection of contemporary maps and satellite images for comparison.

The National Library of Scotland provides two of the historical layers. There is a monthly usage cap on this free service that may affect what you get.

Ordnance Survey

Detailed town plans were published by the Ordnance Survey in five major pushes from 1863 to 1968.

Individual sheets, with their collars, can be viewed by clicking on the links in this page.

The National Library of Scotland may have these maps but not all are online so far. SL6.org.uk remains the best source of local plans of Maidenhead for the whole period.

Individual Maps

Over one hundred non-OS maps are held by Maidenhead Library, Maidenhead Heritage Centre and the RBWM museum stores at Tinkers Lane, Windsor.

Explore and discover the complete collection via this page.

Historic England

Historic England listings cover buildings, parks & gardens, scheduled monuments, battlefields, wreck sites and World Heritage sites. There is also a partial aerial survey which uncovers ancient features in the landscape.

Click on any of the Listed Buildings or Landscapes to open a page on the Historic England website giving full details of the listing.

The map above is of the City of Bath. The purple hue is its status as a World Heritage Site. Listed buildings are plentiful, as are scheduled monuments in the Roman city and the later Parks & Gardens.

The base map Land Use layer is OFF by default so as not to crowd out historical features. Turn it ON for context.