The Vale of White Horse as it was 110 years ago can now be revisited, thanks to the republication of an old Ordnance Survey map of the area.

The map covers the Vale between Shrivenham in the west and Didcot in the east. It includes the towns of Abingdon, Wantage and Faringdon, the Uffington White Horse, the northern slopes of the Lambourn Downs and the Thames.

The map, on a scale of one inch to a mile, shows a rural landscape, punctuated by small market towns and villages, and cut across by the main Great Western Railway line as well as several branch lines that have since disappeared.

Another casualty of the transport revolution was the old Wilts and Berks Canal, which was closed in 1906 after nearly 100 years of operation.

Richard Halliwell, curator of the Vale and Downland Museum in Wantage, said the map would be of great interest to local people, many of whom might be unaware of how much the Vale had changed.

He said: "It is a useful exercise to compare it with today's maps as it shows the spread of towns and villages and developments. The current rash of developments in the landscape of the Vale may make people wonder how much countryside will remain in another 110 years."

Published with the map is an essay by Tony Higgott, who describes the history of the Vale, and a small map of Faringdon in 1910.

Vale of White Horse 1893 by Alan Godfrey Maps costs £2.10 and is available from bookshops.