What to do with old OS maps

Possibly some art groups in your area or a nursery might like them for projects or collage type work??

If they are not too out-of-date or worn, Oxfam bookshops will take them to sell on to walkers.

If not of interest to walkers, they are very much sought after my paper crafters especially people who enjoy junk journalling and collage.

Take a look at the maps and arts and crafts section of Oxfam online. Even torn and tatty maps will be sold as craft material.

Fleur20 - crossed posts. I know someone who used to acquire old school desks, collage them with old OS maps, coat of clear varnish and sell them as shabby chic. Kind of thing that you'd see on Money for Nothing.

I ve sold some on Amazon books some of the old ones have value

I paid £20 for an OS map of my area on ebay, worth a try!

Or use them yourself, as shelf liners, wrapping paper, gift labels ?....

if in reasonable nick off to Oxfam, they have an online shop as well, people who are interested in history and genealogy like old maps,

Thanks everybody. I’ll try Oxfam. I’ve also a largish collection of guidebooks to all sorts of historic houses going back 40 years. Why does one feel one has to horde these things?!

Sell them on ebay. I am a landscape historian and I am always on the look out for old OS maps, For me, preferably pre-1960s.

I have just looked on ebay and they sell for about £2 a copy, but I have paid up to £6.00 for them at antique sales and in secondhand book shops.

You would be very welcome to the maps MOnica but I’ve nothing pre 1980.

Thank you, but my need is very much maps showing roads as they were before all the major and minor roads were rerouted and remade from the late 1960s onward.

I think the best thing to do is give them to a charity shop.

‘… maps showing roads as they were before all the major and minor roads were rerouted and remade from the late 1960s onward.’ Illustrating a very different world. I can remember some local roads where I was brought up receiving their first covering of tarmac in the late fifties.

Family history groups welcome them to check on old buildings and areas for family history research.

Agreed, they can be valuable to people looking at an area in the past. I would love to have early 1960s maps of my family area because they would have shown the railway lines which are all now gone. You could try the local Family History Society in the area, ask if they want them. Give dates of maps. Google '(county) Family History Society'.

I have seen the study of a keen walker. The walls are papered with a collage of old maps, then sealed and varnished. It looks stunning.

DDs Geography teacher had cut up OS maps and made bunting for the classroom.

Definitely donate to a charity shop. I think they sell quite well because some people like buying "retro" maps of the UK.

Chestnut Have you tried the National Library of Scotland's mapping online? Not just Scotland. Maps from all eras and a side by side function so you can compare then and now. You can download as PDFs.

HettyBetty As a keen hiker, I have a huge collection of maps, have often said I'd like to paper a wall but never had the courage. I am glad to read that someone has.

I always fancied wallpapering the study or one wall of the smaller spare room (which the GSs usually have !)

I used old road maps to wrap up my Christmas presents this year. I think the adults spent more time looking at the maps than admiring their presents!

Ds/dil have papered one wall of the kitchen with maps of Scottish mountain routes they have walked or climbed. Very different and provides a great talking point!

CaravanSerai

Chestnut Have you tried the National Library of Scotland's mapping online? Not just Scotland. Maps from all eras and a side by side function so you can compare then and now. You can download as PDFs.

HettyBetty As a keen hiker, I have a huge collection of maps, have often said I'd like to paper a wall but never had the courage. I am glad to read that someone has.

Yes I have used their online mapping and found it excellent. It's not the same as having a coloured paper map though. I love that you can choose your period right back into the 1800s.
If anyone is interested then browse the maps as 'individual sheets' then zoom into your exact area.
maps.nls.uk/os/6inch-england-and-wales/index.html

I can't imagine a whole wall, but I think if you cut out a choice rectangle they would make a nice lining for a tray, or anything on a smaller scale like that.

But I would go with eBay for any undamaged ones first.