SABRE Maps/Quarter Inch coverage project

This SABRE Maps Coverage Project is to provide online coverage of various series of OS, OSI and OSNI maps at the Quarter Inch and 1:250,000 scales.

Within Ordnance Survey, Quarter Inch maps were generally considered to be motoring maps, and as such were the first "standard" series to include road numbers on them, starting in 1929 on the Third Edition (New Series) mapping. These were then replaced in the mid-1930s by the Fourth Edition, easily recognised by the very tall sheet style; whilst the Fifth Series, first printed in 1957, was branded as Quarter Inch, but was actually at the 1:250,000 scale. These were finally replaced in the late 1970s with various brands of mapping at the same scale, such as Routemaster and Travelmaster.

From 2010 onwards, Ordnance Survey released 1:250,000 mapping as OpenData, meaning that it can be used within SABRE Maps with appropriate attribution. These releases are also managed from within this Coverage Project.

1:250,000 maps were produced by Ordnance Survey Ireland starting in 1958, with five sheets covering the entire island, with Sheet 2 being primarily of Northern Ireland. The final maps in this series were produced in 1979.

Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland used the Quarter Inch scale initally for the Northern Ireland Road Map (from 1926) and other special mapping series which are not covered by SABRE Maps, such as Boundary Commission and Rainfall maps. From 1957 onwards, the Quarter Inch Map of Northern Ireland, a more general mapping series more in the style of the OSGB sheets was instigated. This was then intended to be replaced by a new 1:250,000 Map of Ireland jointly produced by OSNI and OSI starting in 1970, but this series didn't get further than Sheet 1 which was centred on Northern Ireland and County Donegal.

Since 1980, the Holiday Map has been produced jointly between OSNI and OSI at the 1:250,000 scale.

Which projection type are these maps?

See Also: SABRE Maps/Calibrating

The various Quarter Inch series within our timeframe use a number of different projections.

Great Britain

The Third Edition uses Cassini (Delamere) for both the England and Wales series and that of Scotland; and the sheetline co-ordinates can be found on the main OS Quarter Inch article.

The Fourth Edition is laid out on the National Yard Grid, which is shown on all 1930s revisions, whilst post-war editions are still on the National Yard Grid sheetlines but are re-marked as OSGB National Grid and so have strange numbers in the corners of the sheets. It is safe to use whichever system is shown on the map for georeferencing.

The Fifth Edition and later mapping, including the 1:250k OpenData releases, all use the OSGB National Grid.

Ireland

The Northern Ireland Road Maps use the Bonne (Ireland) projection; whilst the later Quarter Inch Maps of Northern Ireland and the 1:250,000 Map of Ireland are both laid out on the Irish Grid.

OSGB Third Edition

The OS Quarter Inch Third Editions of England and Wales can be very confusing as the specification of them changed rapidly within a few years of their first publication just after World War 1; and were historically known as "Third Edition" and "Third Edition (New Series)", but helpfully, there's no obvious differences on the labelling of the sheets themselves.

For SABRE Maps purposes, the later Third Edition sheets (the so-called "New Series" or "A series") where many of the sheet numbers were suffixed with an "A" is the one we are primarily interested in as these are some of the earliest examples of standard OS sheets that contain road numbers. Confusingly, there were some early "A" suffixed sheets that don't contain numbers; and there are sheets in the New Series whose sheet numbers are not suffixed with "A" as they are on the same sheetlines as the first group; and there are even some examples where an early sheet has been (mostly) replaced by one with an "A" suffix but was randomly reprinted later. There is also no Sheet 5 within the New Series; and Sheet 1 was common with the Scottish Third Edition.

The Quarter Inch Third Edition of Scotland has no such "A series" confusions, and continued throughout its life with the same sheets; although in common with the England and Wales sheets, road numbers only appeared on the later sheets.

In short, if road numbers are printed on the map, then it should be included within this Coverage Project. Earlier maps to the start of the Third Editions will also be added, but these are considered to be a lower priority.

Currently there is a map layer available of maps from circa 1930, but the vast majority of maps scans donated came without margins, so we currently do not know the exact revisions of each sheet.

Which Third Edition maps are actually available?

Revision codes on Third Edition sheets can be found at the bottom right of the map, hidden in the middle of the text located there. During the time of this series, the Ordnance Survey tended to add the latest revision code to earlier codes. It is specifically the last code that is the relevant one.

If you have any of the maps shown as not currently available in the table below, and you are willing to donate map scans or the maps themselves, then please get in touch.

Key

Available on SABRE Maps

Online, but needs replacement source

Unconfirmed Revision

Within the pipeline

Pipeline (Military edition)

Acquired but not scanned

Copy needed

In copyright (copy available)

In copyright (copy needed)

No map printed (or empty cell)

Third Edition (New Series) Revision Code example, 1000/34

England and Wales

Sheet	Name	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935
1	The Border					5800/30	950/31		2000/33
2	England, North West							500/32
2A	North Central	(no code)			5000/29	5200/29					500/35
3	England, North East				6000/29		2500/31		2000/33
4A	North Wales and Manchester			5000/28		7000/30			2000/33	2000/34
5	(not printed)
6A	North Midlands and Lincolnshire					7500/30				1000/34	2000/34
7A	South Wales				6200/29				200/33
8A	The Midlands				8000/29			6500/32
9A	East Anglia					7500/30		6000/32
10	England, South West				5000/29		6000/31		2000/33	1000/34	2000/34
11	England, South				10200/29		15750/31	1100/31
12A	England, South East and London				8200/29		9000/31		450/33		2000/35

Scotland

Sheet	Name	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935
1	(as England and Wales)
2	Scotland, South West							2000/32
3	The Forth and Tay						2000/31			1550/34
4	Glasgow, Oban and the Southern Isles							1000/32	2500/33
5	The Eastern Highlands									2450/34
6	The Western Highlands							1000/32	2000/33
7	Scotland, North							1000/32	2000/33
8	The Northern Hebrides
9	The Orkney Islands
10	The Shetland Islands							500/32
-	Glasgow and District					5000/30

OSGB Fourth Edition

The Fourth Edition mapping is similar visually to the Third Edition, and can look somewhat cluttered to modern eyes. It was born out of the confusion of the Third Edition with the first sheets being printed in 1934; and was the first Quarter Inch mapping to be based on the National Yard Grid. The maps are easily recognised by their very tall nature when folded; and lasted for quite some time, with the final maps being published in 1960.

After World War 2, the maps have WITH NATIONAL GRID prominently printed on them as they were converted to the new National (metric) Grid, conveniently forgetting that they'd actually always been based on the National (yard) Grid.

There is currently a "circa 1946" layer that contains examples of one of each sheet available, and most are from the 1946 revisions. However, it is planned to extend the current annual Quarter Inch layers back in time to include the relevant Fourth Edition sheets.

Which Fourth Edition maps are actually available?

Revision codes on Fourth Edition sheets can be found in one of two very similar places. In early maps, they are located right at the bottom left of the map sheet, between the map itself and the key; whilst in later sheets, they are located below the key. Note that in the table below, some pre-war editions are not listed at this time.

Key

Available on SABRE Maps

Online, but needs replacement source

Unconfirmed Revision

Within the pipeline

Pipeline (Military edition)

Acquired but not scanned

Copy needed

In copyright (copy available)

In copyright (copy needed)

No map printed (or empty cell)

Pre-war sheets have revision codes like this example, 60/37 M.36 R.30-2. Note the National Yard Grid co-ordinates being round numbers at the map corners.

Sheets from the immediate post-war period have revision codes like this, 20,046/Cr. The map gridlines are now in the (metric) National Grid and are no longer round numbers at the corners.

The final few maps had revision codes of this style, D in this example, although the earlier numeric codes can also be found in this location.

England and Wales

Sheet	Name	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960
1	The Border		2035		50/37	5038			20046						B
2	North Central		1535		25/37		6039		20046					2028								A//
3	England, North East		2335	6036			6039		20046/Cr					2029								A//
4	North Wales and Manchester		2535	6036	80/37				20046			2025		2030	D
5	(no map published)
6	North Midlands and Lincolnshire		2535		50/37		6039		20046/Cr				2026		2036								C/
7	South Wales		2534	4036		4038	5039		20,046/Cr				2027		C
8	Midlands		3035		50/37	5038	6039		20046/Cr		2023			2031	D								D/
9	East Anglia		3035		60/37	8038			20,046/Cr		2024			2032	C						C/
10	England, South West	3035	5035		60/37	10038			23046/Cr		2020				2039						A///
11	England, South	4000/34	6035	20/37	60/37	10038		20,045/Ch			2021			2033	E							E/
12	England, South East and London		4535	6036	80/37	10038		25045/Ch			2022			2034				D			D/

Scotland

Sheet	Name	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960
1	(common with E and W series)
2	Scotland, South West		2536		2538		3040		20046														A/
3	The Forth, Clyde and Tay		2536		2538	1039			20046/Cr					2037						B/
4	Glasgow and the Middle West		2536		2538	3039			15046/Cr		2019				2040					A//		A///
5	The Eastern Highlands		2036		2038	3039			15046						B
6	Skye and the Outer Hebrides		1536		2038				15046														A/
7	Scotland North	1535	1536		2038				15046									N/A			A/
8 & 9	Orkney and Shetland Islands			2037					5046					2035

OSGB Fifth Series

• 
• 
• 

The "Revision A" layer contains the initial revisions of the Fifth Series Quarter Inch layers, and so will become a full set of all "A" revision maps. The first sheet was published in 1957, which the final sheet being early 1963.

As well as this, there are annual layers that contain on them the exact Quarter Inch sheets published in the year listed. As not all sheets were revised each year, then there will inevitably be gaps in coverage. Equally, some sheets were revised more frequently than others, ranging from five across the life of the series to eleven. The final sheets were printed in 1978, and so it will be a while before full coverage can be achieved on SABRE Maps.

The military version of the OSGB Quarter Inch Fifth Series, M523, included an additional sheet numbered 18, covering Northern Ireland. This differs from the OSNI Quarter Inch Map of Northern Ireland, and covers a slightly larger area. This means that, unusually, it is a rare example of a military map being used for SABRE Maps. There was also a second, separate edition of M523 printed by the US Army Map Service.

Which Fifth Series maps are actually available?

Most sheets have revision codes that look like this, B/* in this example, which dates this One Inch map to 1966 rather than the 1962 copyright date

Early revision code, A in this example

See Also: SABRE Maps/OS Copyright

Annoyingly, the OS didn't actually put the exact date of the map on each map. The date that appears on the map (either with the words Crown Copyright or Made and published by the Director General of the Ordnance Survey) often is not the correct date of the map, but the date of the last major revision. Roads are updated every minor revision, so there is every chance that a map may actually be from quite a number of years away from the copyright date. There is an example of the Preston One Inch sheet which has a copyright date of 1958, but in actual fact the revision date is 1969, and hence the map shows the entire M6 motorway in the area.

Revision codes on Quarter Inch Fifth Series sheets can be found in one of two places. In early maps, they are located right at the bottom left of the map sheet, underneath the sheet number; whilst in most sheets, they are located immediately under the bottom left corner of the maps themselves, between the map and the key.

Revision codes appear in the heading within SABRE Maps, and so this information is extremely valuable to capture, as it gives the exact publishing date; and indeed they are the easiest way of confirming exactly which map is which.

Ordnance Survey maps can only be scanned for SABRE Maps when they fall out of copyright, which lasts for fifty years, so they can be used on the following 1 January. This means that a map with a Crown Copyright date printed on the map of 1964 became out-of-copyright, and hence usable on 1 January 2015. As it's the Crown Copyright date that OS use as the critical date in terms of copyright licensing, it means that we can use maps that are younger than the critical 50 years, as long as their copyright dates are old enough. Copyright dates are incremented at each full survey, so when the revision code letter is incremented, rather than when a more minor revision is published.

Key

Available on SABRE Maps

Online, but needs replacement source

Unconfirmed Revision

Within the pipeline

Pipeline (Military edition)

Acquired but not scanned

Copy needed

In copyright (copy available)

In copyright (copy needed)

No map printed (or empty cell)

Sheet	Name	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978
1	Orkney and Shetland Islands						A					A/					A//		B
2	North West Scotland						A				B				B/			C		C/*
3	Northern Scotland						A				B					B/*		C		C/*
4	Western Highlands					A			A/			B				B/*			C				D
5	Eastern Highlands						A	A/				B				B/			C				D
6	Firth of Clyde					A				B			B/*			B/*/*			C	C/*			D
7	Firth of Forth					A			B			B/*		C			C/*	D		D/*
8	Solway Firth				A			B			C		C/				C//*		D
9	North East England				A				B		B/*		B/*/*		C		C/*	D		D/*
10	North Wales and Lancashire	A					B				C	C/		D	D/*	D/*/*		E	E/*	E/*/*	F
11	North Midlands and Yorkshire				A				B		B/*	C		C/*	C/*/*	C/*/*/*	C/*/*/*/*	D	D/*	D/*/*		E
12	South Wales				A				A/*			B		B/*		B/*/*		C	C/*
13	The Midlands						A			B		B/*	C		C/*	C/*/*	C/*/*/*	D	D/*	D/*/*	E
14	East Anglia						A			A/	B				C				D			E
15	South West England						A				B			B/*			C		C/*
16	Southern England							A			B	B/*	B/*/*		C	C/*	C/*/*	D	D/*	D/*/*	E
17	South East England							A			B	B/*		B/*/*	C	C/*	C/*/*	D	D/*	D/*/*	E
18	Northern Ireland								1-GSGS	4-65			2-GSGS					3-GSGS
	Wales and The Marches			A			A/	B				B/*				C					D

Notes

OSGB 1:250,000 OpenData

Starting in 2010, Ordnance Survey released 1:250,000 Colour Raster coverage (the modern equivalent of Quarter Inch mapping) across Great Britain as OpenData, and therefore this modern mapping can be used on SABRE Maps with appropriate attribution.

New revisions are released annually, but unfortunately Ordnance Survey Customer Services claim that each annual release simply overwrites the previous release across their servers, and they do not keep historical revisions.They are currently released in June, but this has not historically always been the case.

SABRE Maps has the largest archive available anywhere, as we now have a full set of all the annual releases.

Which 1:250k OpenData maps are actually available?

Year	Availability	Notes
2010		March 2010
2011		June 2011
2012		June 2012
2013		June 2013
2014		June 2014
2015		June 2015
2016		June 2016
2017		June 2017
2018		June 2018
2019		June 2019
2020		June 2020
2021		June 2021
2022		June 2022
2023		June 2023

OSI 1:250,000

OSI 1:250,000 mapping dates from the 1960s and 1970s, and so appears on the relevant annual layers.

As not all sheets were revised each year, then there will inevitably be gaps in coverage. Equally, some sheets were revised more frequently than others, ranging from five across the life of the series to eleven. The final sheets were printed in 1979, and so it will be a while before full coverage can be achieved on SABRE Maps.

Which OSI 1:250k maps are actually available?

Most OSI Quarter Inch maps have revision codes that look like this example taken from a Half Inch map, 5-57 in this case, which dates the map to May 1957

See Also: SABRE Maps/OS Copyright

OS Ireland maps generally have some of the simplest revision code information to find - they're generally bottom right just underneath the map, with extensive dating information to the right. However, be aware that some OSI maps don't actually have specific revision codes on them, and they are noted as "N/A" in the table below where a map is known to have been published in that year, but is missing the revision code.

Revision codes appear in the heading within SABRE Maps, and so this information is extremely valuable to capture, as it gives the exact publishing date; and indeed they are the easiest way of confirming exactly which map is which.

Ordnance Survey Ireland maps can only be scanned for SABRE Maps when they fall out of copyright, which lasts for fifty years, so they can be used on the following 1 January. This means that a map with a Government Copyright date printed on the map of 1964 became out-of-copyright, and hence usable on 1 January 2015.

Key

Available on SABRE Maps

Online, but needs replacement source

Unconfirmed Revision

Within the pipeline

Pipeline (Military edition)

Acquired but not scanned

Copy needed

In copyright (copy available)

In copyright (copy needed)

No map printed (or empty cell)

Sheet	Name	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979
1	Ireland NW		6-60						N/A						N/A				N/A			N/A
2	Ireland NE				N/A				1-67								N/A		N/A
3	Ireland W						2-64				N/A									N/A
4	Ireland SE			N/A				10-65					N/A		N/A					N/A
5	Ireland SW						N/A		2-66			6-69					5-74	N/A	N/A	N/A

Note: Two further 1970s editions of Sheet 3 were published at unknown dates; as well as one further edition of Sheet 4 between 1972 and 1977.