Monumental Land Surveys

Monumental Land Surveys

A monumental land survey is a type of land survey dealing specifically with the boundaries of the property. All monumental land surveys use physical monuments to mark the boundaries on the land itself. Commonly, the corners of the house are marked with a long iron rod driven vertically into the ground, though there are plenty of other types of physical monuments which may be used.

These monuments are designed to be as permanent as you possibly can, though land surveyors many decades ago used wooden posts or natural features which may be destroyed over time, making it difficult to re-trace their work today. Monuments in use today could have a cap on top of the iron rod identifying the surveyor who placed it.

This physical monument allows the easy finding of the boundaries and corners of the house when one is physically on the land, although the monumental land survey itself does have some limitations as far as another information provided. For instance, it usually is not concerned with any improvements on the house, such as for example fences or homes, and can not determine whether these were built to code or conform to zoning regulations.


Often, a monumental survey is undertaken in conjunction with other styles of land surveys to show additional information about the property. For example, a monumental survey could be combined with a title survey, that will examine more than the boundaries in determining anything affecting ownership of the land in question.

Oftentimes, a monumental land survey could be undertaken if you find a dispute over the exact land boundaries. For  Land Surveyors Bristol , if a fence has been built or is approximately to be built on the land, a monumental land survey can mark the exact corners and the boundary between your two properties so the fence's position based on the legal property boundary could be evaluated. The monumental land survey is also useful when in the look stages of a construction project.

Before a land surveyor may place the monuments, there are lots of other steps to take, a lot of which are in fact done away from the house in question. Actually, placing the monuments is close to the end of the monumental land surveying process. First, the surveyor must clarify exactly where the boundary ought to be located by looking at the title and legal description of the house, among other information. Then, these boundaries must be measured on the land itself before they might be marked, and the surveyor will search for any preexisting corner monuments from previous surveys, evaluating their accuracy to find out if the boundary was correctly placed by the prior surveyor. Finally, the new monuments are set into place.

Boundary monuments are put at every corner of the house, including any angle or change of direction of the boundary line. The survey data is then recorded in a land survey plat. The state recording of this survey will provide a basis for just about any future land surveys of the house. If such information is never recorded properly, you won't be accessible for future land surveyors if the land is re-surveyed at any time. This information carries a scale drawing of the land and its own boundaries, all necessary dimensions to permit a surveyor to determine the property boundaries while in the field and an in depth description of all monuments found or applied to the property.