About the historical land use tool
The historical land use tool has been designed to help residents and those interested in land use history to identify the historical land use of any property in Camden.
When you select your address the tool searches records of potentially contaminative land uses recorded on old maps that have taken place within 25 metres of the address.
We have searched through old maps dating from 1870 through to 1980 and recorded over 5000 areas of land that have the potential to be contaminated.
Where a potentially contaminating feature is located on a map, the extent of the property boundary where the use took place was recorded (see figure one below). Following this, the type of use and date that the use took place was recorded - e.g. “Printing works 1875”.
For occasions where the exact boundary of a site or land area is not known, best estimates were used, based on the understanding of historic practices and clues from other nearby features. Also, some areas on maps appear to have had an industrial use but the actual land use is not recorded on the map it self. In these cases the term ‘Unknown or unspecified industrial’ is recorded on the database.
Figure one: potentially contaminative land use record 
Due to copyright restrictions we are only able to give you information on the land use history we have recorded from maps, not the historical maps themselves.
Other useful information sources for land use history in Camden include:
- planning online - where you can check the planning history of a property
- Local Studies and Archives Centre at Holborn Library who may also hold information on the history of the property
If you have any questions about the result of your search please contact the contaminated land officer.
If you want us to check our paper records a search fee of £60 will be charged.
Please see our contaminated land enquiry procedure for more information.
