How can maps reveal what was once in our town?

Holly: HCC. Maps are treasure trails into the past. You have three hours to find out about what was once in your town using old and modern maps.

Darcey: When I think of maps, I think of treasure maps.

Ashton: I know exactly where I'm going. The Roman Museum in Canterbury.

Holly: You have three hours. I'll see you then. Don't be late.

Darcey: Not a single treasure map, but I found so many other maps with loads of clues.

This is a tithe map from the 1800's. Tithe means tax, and this map shows information on who owned land in towns and villages, who farmed and lived on it.

The rest of Hounslow on this map doesn't look anything like it does now.

There are some even older maps I found too. I found this archive from 1968.

Look at this, the difference between the new library and the old library. I wonder what people from 1968 would think of the library now.

Ashton: I found out Canterbury wasn't always called Canterbury. The Romans called it Durovernum Cantiacorum. Catchy.

Let's go find out where else has changed.

By comparing these old and new maps I can see here what has disappeared, moved or been built.

So it looks like no complete buildings have survived from Roman times, but the wildest thing about this map is that some parts of these buildings still exist.

Let's step back in time to around 2000 years ago.

Look where we're standing right now. This used to be a two storey Roman townhouse. I can imagine people rushing around here, playing with their pets and eating breakfast.

But why did the Roman city decline? And how did it end up as Canterbury today? What on earth happened to the Romans?

I've heard there's something else really exciting we can check out. Come on.

You can find so much about the history of places just by looking at their street name. Look at this - Hospital Lane named after the huge hospital that used to be there. How about Beer Cart Lane? No guessing what used to be there.

Uh, I might give Gas Street a miss though.

Darcey: I found these photos of the High Street during the Blitz in 1940.

Look, a bomb set fire to the whole of the High Street burning down most of the shops. Look at the high street now. It's so hard to imagine it was ever destroyed.

I also found all these jobs that they had in Hounslow before the war that you'd never believe existed.

Time for a quiz.

Welcome to 'You Said What?' Pre-war Jobs edition with me, Darcey.

What's a lamplighter? Pause and have a think.

Lamplighters. People that would walk around the streets lighting gas street lamps, then extinguishing them in the morning.

Question two. What's a town crier?

A town crier. A person that would stand on the street and shout the news updates at passers by.

And finally, what was a human computer?

A human computer. A person who would solve complex maths problems by hand before electric computers were widespread.

How many did you get?

Call incoming!

Holly: Time's up. HCC, what did you find?

Darcey: I found so much more than what my town looked like from old maps.

Ashton: I found out how some street names give clues to what was there in the past.

Holly: Excellent work truth seekers. Maps don't just tell us about where things are, they tell us about where things used to be.

Sometimes they were decorative or contained keys and clues, which tell us about what was important to people at that time.

What can maps tell you about where you live? Until next time HCC. Out.