Putting North Somerset on the map: All counties now covered!

Know Your Place North Somerset is now online for you to explore

For the first time, historical maps of North Somerset are now freely available online thanks to the Know Your Place West of England project, supported by National Lottery players. From the coastal communities of Portishead, Clevedon and Weston, further inland to Blagdon and Leigh Woods, you can now discover how North Somerset has been transformed over time.

Parish Wharf in Portishead on KYP with monuments & gardens information shown

Know Your Place West of England is a free digital mapping resource that enables you to explore your neighbourhood online through old maps, archive images and linked information. North Somerset Council is a key partner in this collaborative project, which is led by South Gloucestershire Council.

Five historic map layers of North Somerset are now online, allowing you to explore some of the most famous natural and man-made landmarks, from Uphill to Wrington Vale, and Royal Portbury Docks to the famous Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare. Alongside historic maps you can freely explore data from the Historic Environment Record for North Somerset.

Comparison of maps reveal former landmarks now lost, such as the Regent Street train station in Weston-super-Mare

You will also be able to upload and share your own information about the area straight onto Know Your Place helping to build a rich and diverse community map of local heritage for everyone – from schoolchildren to family historians and planners to enthusiasts of community heritage.

More than 50 project volunteers are working hard to prepare further historic maps, which will be added onto Know Your Place North Somerset over the coming months. South West Heritage Trust in Taunton supplied many of the original maps. In addition, collections from museums are featured in a touring exhibition that will visit North Somerset libraries in the coming months.

The website will continue to grow as more map resources, drawings and photographs from archive and museum collections are added. North Somerset is the final area of the West of England to be mapped in the project. The seven counties of the West of England region are now on Know Your Place. These are: Bristol, Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

All seven counties of the West of England are now on KYP

Cat Lodge, Archaeologist from North Somerset Council, said “We are grateful for the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund to facilitate such an exciting project which will enables residents of North Somerset to better interact with and explore the history and heritage of their local areas. Through the use of digital mapping, users are able to see how their communities have developed over time and add to the historical knowledge of those places. Know Your Place is a valuable resource which will not only aid community historical and archaeological groups and schools in local research, but also contribute to adding new information to North Somerset Council’s Historic Environment Record and raising the profile of heritage in the district.” 

Nerys Watts, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South West, said: “Know Your Place West of England is a fantastic resource, bringing together the history of this area so people can discover the ever-changing make-up of the places where they live and work. If you have bought a National Lottery ticket recently, you have helped to support these types of projects that are preserving the precious heritage of our communities for future generations. Thank you.”

Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, the Know Your Place West of England project was awarded £379,800 by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), with generous match-funding and in-kind support from local authorities and heritage groups in the region, including £5,000 match-funding from lead partner South Gloucestershire Council.

Start exploring North Somerset’s maps and heritage information at the project’s website: www.kypwest.org.uk