‘Know Your Place’ launched in Wiltshire, Bath & NE Somerset and Gloucestershire

Know Your Place project puts three more counties on the map

For the first time, historic maps and heritage data of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Bath and North East Somerset are now freely available online in one place, thanks to the latest expansion of Know Your Place West of England.

This information has come from the website of The South West Federation of Museums and Art Galleries.

http://www.swfed.org.uk/news/know-your-place-wiltshire-bath-ne-somerset-and-gloucestershire/

From Stonehenge to Swindon, Keynsham to the Cotswolds, Salisbury plain to the spa towns of Bath and Cheltenham – you can now discover how these places have transformed over time.

What this means for the West

Now covering more than 4360 square miles, Know Your Place allows you to explore some of the most famous landmarks from the region’s history, from the World Heritage sites at Bath and Avebury, to Wiltshire’s White Horses and the unique landscapes of the Forest of Dean and Severn Estuary that are the focus of other Heritage Lottery Funded projects.

You will also be able to upload and share your own information about the area straight onto Know Your Place helping to build a rich and diverse community map of local heritage for everyone; from school children to family historians, planners to enthusiasts of community heritage.

Users of Know Your Place in Bristol and South Gloucestershire said:

“I like the thousands of little windows it provides into the past; all based on specific identified places on the map. It is a wonderful tool for local history research.”

“I love the layers of maps; it demonstrates so well how the area has grown and developed.”

Know Your place are working towards publishing additional Know Your Place data for these three new counties.

More than 50 project volunteers are working hard to prepare further historic tithe, enclosure and town maps, which will be add onto Know Your Place over the coming months.

They are also working closely with Historic Environment Record officers to to publish Historic Environment Record (HER) data for Gloucestershire, refine the HER data already available for Wiltshire and B&NES and to share HER data for North Somerset and Somerset in future.

Museums and archives across the region are identifying items from their collections that will begin to be mapped onto Know Your Place once their county is online.

You can now find the following counties on Know Your Place: Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & NE Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

Their aim is to grow and evolve the website as more people use and contribute to Know Your Place, and expect to map remaining areas and information layers by Summer 2016.

Exhibition coming soon

Know Your Place is also designing an upcoming touring exhibition that will visit 12 venues across the West of England starting in late October 2016, celebrating our rich heritage and helping to raise awareness of Know Your Place.

Read more and explore the map at: www.kypwest.org.uk