Uploading of the "Atlas de la Loire" collection

The maps therefore focus on the route covered by the River Loire, over sixty or so kilometres from Tavers (Loiret) to Mosnes (Indre-et-Loire). 

At the water's edge, it is possible to make out the surrounding villages or layout of garden flowerbeds, such as those in the Château de Menars parkland. The maps have also been much annotated, indicating crop types, gardens, orchards, fallow land, sandbanks, vines, woodland and forest, buildings, streams or ponds. 

A great many handwritten notes postdating the creation of these 38 maps are a reminder that the Bridges and Highways department used them as working tools right through until the 1970s. 

Online:

• Au fil de l’eau…en 1860 (Culture 41)