Maps and Directories

Recommendations required please for the viewing and/or purchase of maps and directories of Birmingham.
Ordnance Survey maps and Kelly's directories have aroused some attention in another thread so, to get us started, here are some web links mentioned there......

http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/

http://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/

http://www.british-history.ac.uk

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genmaps/

VM

I can recommend Midland Historical Data for Trade Directories on CD disc's. As there is little chance of getting hold of a hard copy volume today. They do most trade directory's and have a pretty comprehensive library.

If you wish for a small fee you can view on line trade directories or census information. I have now bought 9 trade directories dated back to 1818 and have of yet found no cause for complaint.

Phil

Another good one is http://www.GenealogyJunction.com I bought the POST OFFICE DIRECTORY OF BIRMINGHAM 1867 from them.

Cassinni Maps have just bought out a new range of old ordinance survey maps.

This is the link for signmans latest suggestion. http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk/

I can highly reccomend the book, BIRMINGHAM -A HISTORY IN MAPS by PAUL LESLIE LINE.

They have it at Amazon for £16
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Birmingham-Histo...69775631&sr=8-1

Cassini's maps could be useful where none other are available, or if you want a more recent but old map, but Alan Godfrey's, at about the same resolution, win hands down if they are available. Both in price (£2.25 versus £8.95) and in area covered, which is much smaller in the Cassini maps, which looks to be about 1/9th the area of a Godfrey map
mike

I can provisionally second Signmans book recommendation, mine arrived this morning and looks to be well stuffed with maps, photo's and texts.
I can't actually read it yet because the petrol fumes are giving me a headache and sore throat but I will enjoy it once it has aired.
VM

Just a roundup of the web links we have so far for Maps and Directories.


http://www.cassinimaps.co.uk

http://www.genealogyjunction.com/

http://www.midlandshistoricaldata.org/

http://www.british-history.ac.uk

http://www.alangodfreymaps.co.uk/

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~genmaps/

some goodies here, will have to lock my card away. http://www.familyhistoryresearch.org/birmingham.htm

I like the look of the Cadbury book. No modern strife in that one.

Any chocolate in it or is it all cheese now?

This is the one that interests me---- covering the whole of Birmingham in 1940.
One of the great advantages of a "late" directory such as this is that it is so easy to trace heads of household either by name or street address. (Each street, and every numbered house is there, together with the head of household and their occupation). Don't think of it as being just a 1940 resource. You will find all branches of your family and their addresses, and then go look at those same addresses in all earlier resources. That's the kind of information that will pull down those brick walls in your earlier research.
This book was kindly loaned to the Archive CD Books Project by Sandwell Record Office. Ref 0624 Price £21.50

I wouldn't argue about the usefullness of the later directories such as 1940, but it isn't correct to say every numbered house is included.Large numbers are included, but, with private addresses in particular, there are still a lot of gaps unfortunately