Old Map of Northern Ireland in 1923 by Ordnance Survey - Ulster, Belfast, Derry

This is an unusual and historically significant map of Northern Ireland, produced by the Ordnance Survey in 1923, just a year after the creation of the Irish Free State in the south. Rather than showing roads or railways, the map is a population chart, recording how people across the north of Ireland were thought to lean politically at a pivotal moment in Irish history, in the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

Coloured squares are scattered across the six counties of Ulster that would become Northern Ireland, Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Londonderry, with the yellow squares marking areas where more people favoured remaining under the Belfast Parliament and the United Kingdom rather than joining the Irish Free State. Belfast itself anchors the east of the map, while Londonderry appears under its older name of Derry in the northwest. The Irish Free State shown here would later be replaced by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937, which created the modern Republic of Ireland.

This map appeals as a heritage gift for anyone with family roots in Northern Ireland, a thoughtful housewarming or retirement present, a Christmas gift for a keen student of Irish history, or a corporate gift for a business with Ulster connections. Every population square and hand-lettered place name has been carefully restored from the original 1923 survey so the fine detail remains crisp.