Ordnance Survey coordinates have been supplied for each estate, together with data in the database tagging those whose location is less secure or where the boundary clause is an unlocated unit appurtenant to a locatable estate. These coordinates are designed to display on a small-scale map of England to show the general location of individual boundary clauses and to show overall distributions of features. Thus we have used 4-figure OS grid references which aim to plot a circle of roughly a mile diameter, a part at least of which lies within the circuit of the boundary clause, whether, at its centre or somewhere towards its edge.

As a rough guide, the point at which the distribution dot will cease to function correctly is about half way up the Google scale. Zoom past this point and the dot is likely to place itself in a very precise point in someone’s back yard and may even, on occasion, fall outside the boundary area.

An example of this would be S590 (L590.2.00, Bayworth, meadowland near Kennington). This is a very small piece of land, and the 4-figure coordinate which comes closest to the area of the land (east of Kennington and west of the river Thames) is SP5302; this is perfectly accurate for an overall distribution map, placing itself within a few hundred metres of the land in question. However if you zoom in on Google you will find the dot on the east bank of the river. The fault here is zooming in on Google! Zoom out a bit and you will see the dot as it is intended - marking the general area of the boundary clause.

Warnings:

  1. At present the distribution dots are all displayed in the same colour, and thus do not distinguish between secure locations and those which have queries against the OS coordinates in the LangScape database.
  2. Where there are several boundary clauses from different charters which relate to exactly the same estate, these will all fall under one dot on the map. Both these matters are capable of redress in any further phase of the project.
  3. The browses and searches which operate on the metadata (‘Locate Bounds’) include the whole body of material and will thus plot results for the entire corpus of boundary clauses. However, those for Headwords and Free Text Searches (‘Explore Texts’) only provide information about material in texts which have been marked up for display, and will therefore give incomplete results (see Completed Archives).