Maps

Over 10,000 maps of all scales and many types and dates are available in the 10 larger libraries, namely Bognor Regis, Burgess Hill, Chichester, Crawley, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, Horsham, Littlehampton, Shoreham-by-Sea and Worthing. Each collection is based on the library catchment area and most have the following:

• Ordnance Survey large scale sheets
• 1:1250 (50": 1 mile) on urban areas, post 1945
• 1:2500 (25") and 1:10,000 (6") on urban and rural areas, post 1945 and pre 1945 editions (1869-75, 1894-8, 1910-14, 1930-45)
• 1:25,000 (Pathfinder) and 1:50,000 (Landranger) the latter covering all of West Sussex and all of Great Britain
• Geological, land use and soil surveys
• Shopping centre plans from the 1960s to date
• Administrative maps (political boundaries, new roads, and so on)
• Street plans, new and old
• 250 Years of Map Making in Sussex 1575-1825 (small-scale facsimile maps)
• Archaeological finds (in some libraries)

iBrowse GIS

You can also access large-scale current and historical maps via library staff computers in all 35 libraries. These cover West Sussex from 1869 to the present. Ask at your local library for further details.

Mini Guide to Maps

The Library Service and the Record Office have jointly produced a mini guide to maps. The guide contains useful information about what maps are held where, including OS, manuscript, tithe and thematic maps, plus deposited plans and a detailed bibliography. The guide is available to buy at any library or at the Record Office. See the Publications page for more details.

Worthing Library has, in addition, some specialised countywide collections:

• Ordnance Surveyors' Drawings (c3": 1 mile) on which later 1" maps were based, 1792-1840, covering S.E. England, on microfiche
• O.S. 1" sheets from 1805 to date, West and East Sussex.
• O.S. County Series 25" 1st edition 1869-1875, and 2nd edition 1894-8 both covering the whole of West Sussex on microfiche
• O.S. County Series 6" 3rd edition 1910-1914, West and East Sussex, in 3 bound volumes
• Wider range of Administrative maps back to the 18th century
• Marine charts, covering Sussex harbours and the coast back to the late 19th century

Most smaller libraries have a portfolio of large-scale O.S. current maps, usually 1:2500 and 1:10,000 scales, covering their own catchment area, namely: Angmering, Arundel, Billingshurst, East Preston, Ferring, Hassocks, Henfield, Hurstpierpoint, Midhurst, Petworth, Pulborough, Rustington, Selsey, Southbourne, Southwick, Steyning, Storrington, Willowhale and Witterings.