Tithe maps are the earliest large-scale mapping with extensive coverage that we have as most townships and parishes (aside from some mountainous areas) had some form of map created.  Tithes themselves are one of the oldest taxes and were payments given in support of the church and its clergy within a parish.

This consisted of a payment ‘in kind’ equivalent to one tenth of yearly produce either from stock rearing (eggs, wool, meat) or arable cultivation (wheat, barley, oats, rye).  However, as land enclosure became more extensive, and ownership would frequently change hands, payments in kind where increasingly converted to fixed sums of money.  This gradual change over several generations across all regions of Wales meant that by the start of the nineteenth century there were inconsistencies across regions.

Commutation refers to the process of substituting one form of payment or charge to another, usually to that of a monetary payment. Prior to 1836 there had been regional commutation acts but in 1836 the Tithe Commutation act was passed by parliament to standardise this across the whole of Wales and England.

This process was overseen by Tithe Commissioners who were based in London, but it was the local assistant commissioners and surveyors who undertook most of the work. There were three key issues the commissioners had to resolve:

• To establish where commutation had already taken place and to establish boundaries where differences in tithe payments existed. These boundaries were referred to as tithe ‘districts’ as to distinguish them from townships and parishes. However, in the vast number of cases the tithe districts were usually parishes, with a minority being townships, hamlets, chapelries.
   
• Create a global assessment for each tithe district. Eventually the tithe payment was devised as being a rent-charge levied in accordance with the value of land and in proportion to the price of corn.
• Calculating the rent-charge on individual properties. This was to be recorded with the creation of a surveyed map of each tithe district along with a written schedule often referred to as an apportionment. The main purpose of these surveys was to provide an accurate measurement of the acreage of each parcel of land or tithe area and record the state of cultivation.

Initially, it was planned that all the tithe maps would be surveyed at a consistent scale of 3 chains to the inch (1:2,376) along with a set of standardised symbology. This was drawn up by Lieutenant R. K. Dawson of the Corps of Royal Engineers and later Ordnance Survey.

Unfortunately, this was not adopted because the landowners had to pay the costs of the survey and many of them already had estate plans which; they argued; could be incorporated into the survey. Following mounting pressure from these landowners, further legislation was passed in 1837 allowing for older estate maps to be used as the basis for the tithe maps if it was accepted by two thirds of landowners within the tithe district.  This accounts for the lack of consistency and wide variation in the standard of mapping.

Those maps that met the exacting standards argued for by Dawson were referred to as ‘First-Class’ plans and received a seal from the Tithe Commissioners as well as their signatures. However, it is important to note that only 16% of all the maps surveyed for both England and Wales are accredited as being first-class (for Wales, 50 maps out of 1,091).

Most maps which used older sources or where surveyed at scales other than 3 chains to the inch would not receive the Tithe Commissioners seal. These maps were prescribed as ‘Second-Class’ and vary in scale and quality. This lack of consistency with the maps means that some are well surveyed and recorded whilst others are little more than topographical sketches and offer little to no information about property boundaries.

• For each tithe district an original map was created along with two copies. Both the originals and copies were signed off by the Commissioners. The original maps were retained by the Commissioners and where eventually transferred to The National Archives which holds the complete national collection for both Wales and England.

• One set of copies were given to the Church which subsequently gave them to the Welsh Church Commission following the disestablishment of The Church in Wales in 1920. In 1944 they in turn deposited the collection in the National Library of Wales. 

• The last set of copies were given to the local church wardens of each parish. Some of these copies are still held by local churches and can sometimes be found on display, whilst others were deposited with local record offices. Most record offices have photocopies of the maps for their area in lieu of originals. 

Further Reading

Roger Kain and Richard Oliver, The Tithe Maps of England and Wales: A Cartographic Analysis and County-by-County Catalogue (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

https://deep-mapping-estate-archives-rcahmw.hub.arcgis.com/pages/1837-1…

How to look for records of... Tithes

2. What was the Tithe Survey? ... Tithes were originally a tax which required one tenth of all agricultural produce to be paid annually to support the local ...