For many years after its foundation in 1791, the Ordnance Survey was mainly concerned with making small-scale military maps of England. The department had no definite plans for Ireland until 1824, when it was directed to map the whole country (as a prelude to a nationwide valuation of land and buildings) as quickly as possible on the large scale of six inches to the mile. After many delays and some mistakes, economy and accuracy were brought to this new task by applying the division of labour in a complex succession of cartographic operations, outdoor and indoor, each of which was as far as possible checked by one or more of the others. A similar system was later adopted by the Survey's British branch. The six-inch maps of Ireland appeared between 1835 and 1846, during which time they evolved from merely skeleton maps (Sir James Carmichael Smyth) into a full face portrait of the land (Thomas Larcom). It was originally intended to accompany them with written topographical descriptions,
