Ordnance Survey County Series 1 in 500

The scale of 1 in 500 is 126.72 inches to the mile. Each map represents an area of 0.3 miles by 0.2 miles, presented on a sheet of about 1 metre by 0.66 metres. The maps are very detailed.

In the 1:500 series, a map from the OS 1:2500 map series is subdivided into 25 maps on a 5 x 5 grid. The same numbering system as the 1:2500 maps is used, with an extra number appended indicating the position in the 5 x 5 grid. So map LXVII.2.21 is the 1st map on the fifth row of 1:2500 map LXVII.2.

These maps were only published for selected urban areas (presumably because maps of this scale of rural areas would show very little - a large field could occupy a whole map). We hold copies of the 13 maps which cover Crediton. They were published in 1905, based on an 1888 survey. We have most of 2 sets, a collection of paper originals and copies stored remotely in our Downes archive (map cabinet drawer A7), and a cloth set generously donated by QualitySolicitors Charlesworth Nicholl, and stored in their original folder at the museum. There is the odd gap in the collections, and some maps are in poor condition.