Navigate to the 'old-maps' website
Select the 'Gazetteer' button on the left side of the site's web page. This will take you to an alphabetical County index.
Select the name of the County in which you are interested - use the alphabet bar at the top of the page to quickly navigate to the required part of the list.
From the individual County page select the name of the town or village nearest to the location you wish to view - again use the alphabet bar at the top of the page.
This will take you to to a page displaying a small coarsely detailed view of the part of the 1st edition 6"/mile map showing the community you have just selected.
The arrows at the top, bottom and either side of the view can be used to navigate to where you wish but are rather slow for large adjustments. It is quicker to click with the left mouse button near the edge of the image - this will produce a new image centred on where you clicked. You can also enlarge or reduce the map area displayed by use of the + or - magnifying glass icons, or the numbers between them below the image. There are other icons below these that are self-explanatory. However, beware that selecting the 'print' icon will only print out the small , coarse image displayed. For better detail use the 'enlarged view' icon to obtain a fine, detailed version centred on the image displayed. This will take a minute or two to download.
To obtain a print of this fine image involves a bit of fiddling.
Click somewhere on the detailed image with the right mouse button - a menu will be displayed. Select 'copy' - this will copy the image into the Windows clipboard.
Now open your graphics programme, select its 'edit' programme, and then the 'paste' option from that. This should now display the detailed image of the map area you want in the graphics programme - you can now use that programme's 'file' menu's 'print' command to obtain a copy from your printer.
It is always a good idea to acknowledge your sources. Please therefore remember to write something like: 'Section of OS County Series 1st Edition 6"/mile map obtained from www.old-maps.co.uk' on any copy you so obtain.
Information provided by Charlie Morriss (Gloucestershire)