See Old Maps Of Leeds Through Tracks In Time
November 3rd, 2009 § 4 Comments
The West Yorkshire Archive Service have a new website, Tracks in Time, that lets you view old Tithe Maps of Leeds and the surrounding area against present-day maps of the same place. The website could be a bit easier to use, but basically if you go to the “Tithe Map Digital Resource” you can search for maps of your town/village etc and see them online.
It’s pretty cool – my only criticism is that the old maps are quite small and you have to zoom in to see the details. I also wonder if the resolution could be improved since when you zoom in the image is pretty pixellated – maybe this is something the Archive Service will improve. Anyhoo, I’ve been playing around with maps of Aberford and Boston Spa and it’s cool to see how the villages have changed in the last 100 years 
Thanks for this go to my mum who is something of a local historian and author (she wrote a history of Aberford School). You can also find her on Twitter (causing trouble no doubt!)
Galileo Who?
January 18th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Thomas Harriot, a 17th century graduate of St. Mary’s (now Oriel College) Oxford, appears to be the first person ever to draw a picture of the moon. Papers attributed to early 1609 show that he beat Galileo by several months.
Thomas made some pretty awesome drawings of the moon’s surface, which are going on display at the London Science Museum on the 23rd July. I love old-school maps so here’s his moon-drawing for your delectation:
