Tithe maps are some of the most important historical documents for understanding how land was used, owned, and valued in the early 19th century. They sit at a fascinating moment in British history, late enough to be detailed and survey‑based, but early enough to preserve traces of much older medieval and early‑modern landscapes.

What a tithe map was for

Until the 1830s, many landholders in England had to pay tithes, this was a kind of tax, and was traditionally one‑tenth of agricultural produce, to the local parish church or lay tithe‑owner.

By the 19th century this system had become complicated and uneven, so the government introduced the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836. This Act replaced payments in kind (sheaves of grain, hay, livestock) with a fixed money payment. To do this fairly, every parish needed a detailed record of:

• Who owned each piece of land.

• Who occupied it.

• How the land was being used.

• And how productive or valuable it was.

This is what produced the tithe maps and their accompanying documents, which were known as tithe apportionments.

What a tithe map shows

A tithe map is a large, hand‑drawn, highly detailed map of a parish, usually created between 1837 and the mid‑1840s. It typically includes:

• Every field, plot, and enclosure, and each with a number.

• Field names, many of which preserve medieval or early‑modern terminology.

• Buildings, farms, cottages, and mills.

• Roads, lanes, footpaths, and tracks.

• Boundaries parish, township, and property.

• Natural features such as streams, ponds, and woodland.

The map is paired with the tithe apportionment, which is a written schedule listing:

• The tithe payment due.

• The plot number.

• The owner.

• The occupier (often a tenant farmer).

• The field name.

• The land use (arable, meadow, pasture, wood, waste, etc).

Together, they form one of the richest snapshots of rural England before industrialisation and enclosure fully reshaped the landscape.

Why tithe maps are so valuable today

For landscape historians, local researchers, and heritage practitioners, tithe maps are invaluable because they capture:

• Field names that often go back centuries.
• Pre‑industrial field patterns.
• Old routes and footpaths that still survive.
• Land ownership structures before later development.
• Evidence of common land or semi‑common land.
• The agricultural character of a place before mills and terraces arrived.

In places like Gee Cross and Werneth Low, tithe maps help reveal the earlier manorial landscape — the strips, meadows, upland grazing, and smallholdings that shaped daily life long before industrial expansion.

Why they matter for your Research work

For your research and writing, tithe maps offer:

• A grounding for your heritage‑craft and textile‑history work, especially when linking domestic production to land‑based economies.

• A way to trace continuity between medieval land use and the 19th‑century landscape.

• A method for understanding field names in and around the landscape.

• Evidence for how paths, boundaries, and commons evolved.

They are deeply evocative documents, because they show a landscape that is recognisably yours, but they are a quieter, slower, and shaped by custom rather than industry.