The Radio Times map offer - FAQs

These maps were scanned from originals published at the start of the 20th Century. Their quality and legibility does not always meet modern mapping standards and the maps are supplied "as is" from the original sheets, except where digital enhancement was deemed necessary.

We endeavour to supply you with the best map available for your given area. Anomalies such as difficult to read maps, mis-fitting joins and lateral lines may appear from time to time but should be regarded as part of the inherent vintage charm of this incredible feat of and 19th and early 20th century surveying and cartographic excellence.

About the Maps - The Ordnance Survey Revised New Series (in colour)
By the late 1890s, the Ordnance Survey had produced two complete series of maps of England & Wales but the increasingly rapid pace of change and development meant that revising them was now a never-ending task. The main cause of this change was the growth of the railways. From being little more than a good idea in 1830, the network covered over 18,000 miles by the end of the century, enabling the spread of goods, people and ideas and changing the character of every place it touched. The late 19th-century was without doubt the age of the railway, and the Revised New Series is the definitive record of its glory years.

Another, quieter, technological revolution was also taking place at this time: the development of colour printing. Information could now be displayed in more subtle and varied ways, and at a reasonable cost. The government, the military and, increasingly, the public were demanding that the map-makers responded to this. After a new survey in the early 1890s, the Revised New Series (in colour) was published from 1896. This captured both the variety of the natural landscape and the human influence of Britain's late-Victorian heyday in delicate shades of vermillion, blue and ochre.

The Revised New Series is an immaculate record of a vibrant society on the threshold of a still greater period of development and urbanisation. It records countless reminders of the past, many of which were about to be swept away for good. For local historians, this is the final record of your part of the country before the changes brought by the motor car. If your interest is genealogical, the series coincides with the 1901 Census, showing the landscape your ancestors inhabited. Whatever your reason for being interested in your area's past, prepared to be entranced by these maps - enlarged and combined to match the present-day OS Landrangers, they will reveal secrets of a familiar landscape you never knew existed.

   
What about the railways? Sometimes a line suddenly stops half-way across the sheet.
This is mainly a problem with the Old Series, the first one-inch series surveyed by Ordnance Survey. So massive was the task that it took over 70 years to complete. When it began, in 1805, railways hadn’t even been invented; when it was completed, in 1874, the rail network covered virtually every corner of the country. The surveyors were overtaken by the navvies.
To overcome this problem when it first appeared from the 1830s, the Ordnance Survey went back over the sheets they’d created and over-engraved new railway lines, but without changing other features or even the publication date, which made it very hard to know when the map had been altered. By the 1850s, the problem was largely solved by more flexible print technology and the fact that the mapmakers were, in general, surveying areas that already had their railways built and so included them from the outset. Future series (being in general revisions) were produced over a far shorter time period for the whole country, so reducing the problem still further. For this middle period of the Old Series maps, though, which mainly covered the middle part of the country (the surveyors started at the south coast and moved north), this problem does from time to time appear and is virtually impossible to solve.
   
Why does the background of the maps sometimes vary?
These original sheets were never designed to be joined up and were often produced at different times, printed on different machines and stored in different places in varying conditions. These days, consistency and accuracy across a series of maps is taken very seriously and modern technology can help ensure that standards are the same for Land’s End as they are for John o’Groats. No such standards existed in the 19th century.
   
Why does the style, such as the type, sometimes change across the map?
All our maps were created from joining together several original sheets. Some of these were published several years apart and used different styles of type, symbols and the like. This is particularly the case with the first series produced, the Old Series. As nobody had ever mapped the country at this scale in such a single-minded way before, the surveyors and engravers would often find they were confronted with a problem or a choice on one sheet that hadn’t occurred on a previously published one. The earliest maps, of Southern England, were produced at break-neck speed because of fears that Napoleon was about to invade the country (as he so nearly did) and the map makers were not much concerned with features like ancient barrows or the names of mills that had no immediate military significance. Later, the maps began to acquire a more civilian aspect and such features tended to be added.
Also, the progress of the Old Series surveying and mapping took so long (over 70 years) in its progress from south to north that the mapmakers found they were describing an increasingly crowded landscape, particularly with the advent of the railways. Type tended to become smaller, abbreviations and symbols began to be used more freely and more choices needed to be made as to what to include or exclude, all with an eye to the increasingly wide range of uses (not only military ones) to which the maps were being put.
   
Why do the maps sometimes show a range of dates (such as 1901-03)?
The Revised New Series was produced and published over about two decades (England and Wales were completed by 1905, with the Scottish sheets being completed by the outbreak on WWI. Often, two adjoining original sheets may have been published in different years, and the date range we provide reflects this.
   
Why is there a line across my map?
Each sheet used to create the Revised New Series has been scanned and manually cropped to the map neatline (the line around the edge of a map). In some cases the neatline was incorrectly drawn or printed on the original maps and the map detail continued outside of it. In these instances, traces of the neatline still appear.
   
Using the website
If you experience technical problems with the website (such as pages not loading, inactive buttons, looping pages, unexpected quantity limitations or error messages) please do the following:
•  Empty the cache on your web browser and quit and re-launch it; or
•  Try using another web browser
•  If you are using a promotional code please ensure that there are no leading or trailing spaces. Ideally type the code in rather than cutting and pasting.
   
How do I select the map I need?
By specifying a complete GB postcode (eg AB99 9YZ, not just AB99). This point will be at the centre of the map. Please be sure to check you have entered the correct postcode as maps cannot be exchanged or refunded as a result of such mistakes.
   
I don’t know the complete postcode of the location I want to centre my map on. What shall I do?
If you type the name of the village, town, street or other geographical descriptor into an internet search engine such as Google you will quickly find details of places such as shops, pubs or schools at or close to your desired location. Use one of those postcodes for your search.
   
Having selected the postcode and clicked ‘Order’ I am looking at small image of map. What is this?
It is a reduced view of the exact map you will receive.
   
Placing your order online
If you are a new user, please select this option the first page of our checkout.

You will be asked to provide information to enable us to process your order and the payment. Please note that the destination postcode must be entered on the next page. One result of this will be to set up an account for you which will be used when you place future orders: you will also need to visit this to download and products that are supplied as PDFs. Please check you have entered your email address correctly in your account set-up: any mistakes will result in your not receiving email confirmation of your order and, if you’ve ordered PDFs, not being able to download them.

You will also be asked to create a customer code which you’ll need to use, in conjunction with your email address, to access your account and to place future orders. We recommend that you choose a customer code (4 characters minimum) that is easy to remember and also which is not the same as or similar to any that you use for high-security purposes, such as on-line banking. Note: This customer code is used to access your order history and downloads. No payment-card details are ever saved to the Cassini database, nor can they be accessed using this customer code.
   
Using your payment card
Once you have placed your order you will be redirected to the site of our merchant service, Worldpay, which handles all payment transactions on our behalf. When you enter your payment-card details you will be doing so on their site, not ours. We do not at any time capture or store your payment-card details on our site.
During the payment procedure, you may be asked to submit to additional security checks possibly in the form of pop-up boxes headed ‘Verified by Visa’ or similar. As you are not at that point on Cassini’s site, Cassini cannot influence whether these appear or not. If you have any concerns about such messages, please contact your bank or card issuer.

Cassini also has no influence over whether your card payment is accepted or declined.
   
Confirming your order

Once your payment is accepted, you will receive an on-screen notification. Shortly afterwards you will also be sent two emails, one from us confirming the order and one from Worldpay confirming the payment. Please check that both are correct. The email from Cassini will confirm the address to which the order will be despatched. Both emails will confirm other details including the amount paid, your address and the Cassini order number which should be quoted in any correspondence with us.

Please note that the emails will not confirm the details of any personalisation you might have specified, such as postcode or inscription.

These emails can sometimes become entangled in spam filters and the like, either on your computer or at your ISP. The fact that one or both email does not arrive does not necessarily mean that your order will not be despatched.
   
How long will my map take to arrive.
For all orders, please allow up to 28 days although we do our best to create and deliver all orders as quickly as possible.
   
What does my payment cover.
Your payment of £3.79 or £5.79 for A4 or A3 map prints covers postage, packaging and handling fees.
If you've bought a framed map then your payment covers the print, the frame, the framing process, packaging, handling and delivery costs as specified.
   
Returns and refunds.
Any product which is damaged or not corresponding with the specifics of your order will be replaced by us at no charge. We cannot accept any responsibility for any orders which are returned to us without our having been previously notified.
Please note that, save as described above, we cannot offer exchanges or refunds in respect of personalised products. .
For more information, please see our legal page.
   
How will I know when my order has been processed?
This will be confirmed on the final transaction screen. You should then receive two emails, one from Cassini confirming the order and one from WorldPay (our secure ordering gateway) confirming the payment. If there has been any problem with the transaction, the website should advise you of this.
   
My order seemed to go through but I have not had the two emails confirming this. What should I do?

Emails sometimes get caught up in spam filters and the like, either on your computer or at your ISP. If you have ordered a PDF and are able to download it (see below) then this is certainly the cause.

   
If you cannot find the answer to your problem, please email customerservices@cassinimaps.com
An automated email will then be dispatched.