Maps of Kilmarnock

Tonight's(13 November) speaker is Paula Williams Senior Map Curator at the National Library of Scotland's Map Collections.  We are regularly asked questions about the location of particular long-gone streets in Kilmarnock or where a certain farm was situated.  So, if you have any questions of that sort, this evening's meeting just might be the opportunity to have them answered.
We meet in Kilmarnock College, Holehouse Road, starting at 7.30pm.  As always, if you want to be sure of a good seat, be there early.

New Book of Historic Scottish Maps.

A new book brings Scottish history to light through maps

Maps revealing Scotland's history and changing aspects of Scottish life have been brought together in a fascinating new book.
'Scotland: Mapping the nation' shows how maps can explain aspects of the story of Scotland as a nation, from the Roman era to the satellite age.
It is the first book to take Scotland's maps and mapping seriously as a form of history.
More than 220 maps, mostly from the National Library of Scotland's map collections, were chosen to illustrate, for example:

• Scotland occupied and defended
• Towns and urban life
• Popular culture
• Travel and communication
• How science has left its mark.

Among the historic and unusual maps included in the volume are:

• The extensive tram network in Glasgow in the last century (1908)
• A Soviet map of Greenock pinpointing factories and military targets (1979)
• Specially designed maps for blind people (1851 and 1978)
• Temperance maps showing the location of public houses (1884)
• The first road maps, from the 17th century.

Authors Chris Fleet, Margaret Wilkes and Charles W J Withers have aimed the book at anyone interested in Scottish history. Historian T C Smout describes it as 'a real eye-opener' and 'utterly absorbing':

'... when you have read it you will never think of maps, or perhaps of Scotland, in the same way again'.

'Scotland: Mapping the nation' will be published by Birlinn on 3 October, in association with the National Library of Scotland, priced£30.