The Grand Jury before the coming of the County Councils in 1898 performed many public work functions and they commissioned Neville Bath to do a map of the county in the 1790s which was published in 1811. The map is remarkable for its accuracy, beauty, and shows the road network before the later improvements of Richard Griffith and others. It also included many town lands and ‘the seats of country gentlemen’ and well as clusters of houses, i.e.. clachans. It is online though the Cork County Council website and is downloadable in 6 parts.
Grand Juries were established in the eighteenth century to determine whether there was a good case for a criminal prosecution to take place. Later they took over some of the functions that are now carried out by county councils. Bridge building, road maintenance, and the building of fever hospitals were some of the duties carried out by Grand Juries. The poor law unions took over most of these functions in 1840 and county councils took over any remaining fiscal and administrative functions after the Local Government Act of 1898.
Neville Bath’s map for the Grand Jury of Cork was surveyed in the 1790s and published in 1811.
The map is one of the best and most detailed maps of the county before the Ordnance Survey maps of the 1840s. It is a treasure trove for geographers, historians, and place-name specialists. The scale of the published map is three-quarters of an inch to one mile (1: 84480).
The Grand Jury map for County Cork is divided into six sections. Select a link below to open the required section of the Grand Jury map.
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West Cork History 