People can now discover the rich history of Oxfordshire's roads and bridges with a new freely available digital resource at Oxfordshire County Council’s History Centre’s website.
Residents are able to review a 1905 historical survey that recorded all highways and bridges for which the county council was responsible following its establishment in 1889. The survey was created by County Surveyor Sidney Stallard and was the first of its kind.
Councillor Neil Fawcett, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community and Corporate Services, said: “The materials available at our History Centre are among the numerous resources that highlight our county's heritage. It's fascinating to witness history come alive online and see the extensive changes in Oxfordshire over time.
"As well as vast online collections, including photos and pictures, there are also extensive physical archive collections open to residents that can help to support personal research projects, from small-scale family history to significant local historical events. "
The surveyors prepared the roads and bridges survey on a set of first edition six-inch Ordnance Survey maps on 53 different sheets dating from 1874 to 1881.
In July 1904, Sidney Stallard took over from Henry Tollitt, Oxfordshire County Council’s first ever County Surveyor, and one of Stallard’s tasks was to commission this new and comprehensive survey of the county's roads and bridges.
The maps were produced at the behest of the council’s Roads and Bridges Committee.
Complementing the 1905 roads and bridges survey maps, the centre has also now published high resolution zoomable images of the complete county bridges album on Picture Oxon, the county council’s database of historical images.
This album contains colour sketches of Oxfordshire bridges, dating from 1839 to 1873 and mainly drawn by Sophia Davenport, wife of J.M. Davenport, Clerk of the Peace. The album also includes some engraved prints, photographs and plans of county bridges.
The maps are based on the historical boundaries of Oxfordshire before 1974 when places to the south of the River Thames such as Abingdon were in Berkshire.
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