Talk for NIFHS Newtownabbey Branch, OS200: Digitally Remapping Ireland’s Ordnance Survey Heritage by Dr Catherine Porter, Monday 11 March 2024 @ 7:00 pm.

This year marks the bicentenary of the 1st Ordnance Survey of Ireland. The original survey went beyond mapping the island, and a wide range of local information was recorded. Today, this material still benefits family and local historians exploring ancestral parishes and townlands.

Using innovative methods, the OS200 project has gathered some of the key OS historical sources together into a free online resource. Dr Porter will give an overview of the project and tell us about the benefits of reconnecting the 1st edition 6 inch maps with information contained within the OS Memoirs, Letters and Name Books.

She will also give some examples of how the OS200 project team has been using the archive to investigate the survey, place and people, and a brief preview of the new online system which will be made available in the coming months.

Dr Catherine Porter is a historical geographer and Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Limerick. Her research focuses on digital methods for investigating early maps and texts. She is the IRC project investigator of OS200, a project which aims to draw together source materials from the 1^st Ordnance Survey of Ireland into one freely accessible online resource. The project is co-funded by the Irish Research Council and the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by staff at the University of Limerick and Queen’s University Belfast. You can learn more about the project scope, staff and partners by visiting the project website: www.irelandmapped.ie.