Arthur Hedley Maps

Folded 6 inch Ordnance Survey maps, mostly for Co. Durham, and Northumberland, with others for Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Oxfordshire and Cornwall, which have been annotated by Hedley. Most annotations relate to mining, being geological information on depths, mineral rights etc, but can also give owners and tenants of the surface property. There is also a book compiled by Hedley, containing lists of Ordnance Survey publications and a map drawn by him showing fluorspar mines in Co. Durham, and a commemorative tray given to his wife Jessie in 1903 by the officials and workmen of Consett collieries (AHM/180).

Arthur Morton Hedley was born at the Manor House in Medomsley, Co. Durham in 1872, the third son of William Hedley and Victoria Hedley (née Morton). His first significant appointment was as certificated manager of Consett Iron Company's Derwent and Hunter collieries, 1897-1903. He married Jessie Beckingham in April 1900, and together they had four daughters. Hedley went on to become manager of the Priestman collieries in Blaydon Burn and Lilly Drift colliery from 1903; then Blaydon Main colliery in 1909. From 1912-1925 he acted as agent and mining engineer for the ironstone mines of Messrs Bolckow, Vaughan and Co. in Cleveland, the family living at Eston House in Eston, then transferring to the company's Durham mines from 1926-1928, the family moving to Howlish Hall, Bishop Auckland. Hedley was He was vice-president of the Institution of Mining Engineers, and from 1925 to 1927 president of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (elected a member in 1919), and a Durham and North Riding JP (1915). His residences included, according to stamps on the plans and local directories: Eston, North Riding, Yorkshire; Howlish Hall, Bishop Auckland and then The Deanery, Lanchester (occurs in local directories in 1934 and as late as 1953), both in Co. Durham; and finally The Manor House, Kempsey, Worcester. He died at Kempsey in 1957.

By Ordnance Survey sheet number, by county.

Open for consultation.

Given by the Worcester County Archivist, E.H. Sergeant, 21 January 1963. This gift has been renamed in 1999, formerly having been conflated with the unconnected Taylor Deeds under the joint title Worcester Solicitor’s Papers, on account of the shared source.

Tray given by his granddaughter Helen McPhail 13 April 2015, Acc No Misc.2014/15:69.

All printed items are listed in the library catalogue, with the shelfmark AHM. The remaining 10 manuscript items and 1 object are described in the Arthur Hedley Maps collection archival catalogue. The maps are also entered in the general card index of O.S. plans.

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Sub-Librarian, Special Collections (e-mail PG.Library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.