Yes, a great site for old maps.
Also fascinating to read about the methods they had for mapping.
The earlier maps are not very reliable of course. But they got better by time. If they show there is a road from one village to another you could probably rely on that, but you wouldn't know exactly how it went. The locals could probably not even tell you how far it was in distance or time. Since they had no watches. How did people measure time? By looking at the sun probably.
I just came to think of the servants who worked for the Austen family.
Some of them must have lived in the village or nearby. It can't have been any question of starting work at a precise time like seven o'clock. I think people got a sense of the time, a habit. Just like we do when we often wake up just before the alarm-clock rings.
It's interesting to see how old many of the villages are.
For intance in the oldest map,from Elizabethan time, the Saxton
map from 1575, we can still find Steventon, Ash and Dean.
There are Popham, Dummer and Waltham(although it is strangely
called ColdWaltham). And we find Sherbourne St John and the Vyne.
And there is the old market town Alton(Avlton) and Chawton.
Other great maps are Mordens from 1690, Taylors from 1759 and
Milnes from 1791.
I particularly like the Milne 1791 map. It's beautifully drawn,
although not very accurate(Steventon church seems to be in
the wrong place). But it has names of many of the estate owners.
Such as Harwood Esq.at Dean, BiggWither Esq.at Manydown,
Wm Shute Esq.at the Vine(so spelled)and Tho. Knight Esq. at Chawton.
Also some names of parish rectors. Such as Rev. Mr Lefroy of Ashe.
Why some of them are mentioned and not others I dont know.
Leif Gn