notes Bickham 1750

Research Notes

Map Group BICKHAM 1750

Bickham 1750

A Map of Hampshire, by George Bickham, 1750; published 1740s-96.

These notes are made from a first edition page of the map of Hampshire by George Bickham, 1750. The map studied, and its accompanying sheets, are in the Map Collection of Hampshire CC Museums Service, item HMCMS:FA1999.77.1.

The map is in the height of fashion, reflecting the spirit of its age; great landowners wanting picturesque landscapes civilised with grottoes, gothic ruins and classical temples.

The map size is: wxh, sheet = 202x316mm; wxh, plate = 154x254mm; wxh, map = 138x219mm.

MAP FEATURES

PUBLICATIONS

THE BRITISH MONARCHY

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

REFERENCES

ITEMS in the Collection

MAP FEATURES

map maker

Printed at the bottom is:-

According to Act of Parliament by G. Bickham 1750

title
dedication

Printed at the top of the map is:-

A MAP of HAMPSHIRE. West from London. / Humbly inscrib'd to the Lord Limington, Lord Lieutt. of ye County

At the top right is:-

before page 57

and the succeeding pages, which were loosely attached, are pages 57-59, the descriptive text about Hampshire.

orientation

The map is a perspective view of the county rather than a true map. Up is west; Hampshire is seen from the east beyond Havant as if standing on a high [very high] vantage point graced with ruins - urns, columns, pyramids, and all.
The view stretches to a horizon just beyond Poole, Dorset, it includes a distorted county inland to Andover and Whitchurch, but Basingstoke is obscured behind the ruins, Alton, Petersfield, and Portsmouth are in view; it includes the Isle of Wight.
Working with a scanned image of the map in a computer graphics program it has been possible to show how poor the perspective is. All attempts at projective transformations fail to make the map conform to reality. This is lamentable at this late date, when artists had a thoroughly accurate knowledge of perspective.

not to scale

This is a drawing, not a map, so no formal scale would be apt. However, using town positions and comparing known town-town distances a sort of 'scale' can be suggested:-

1 to 1100000

15 miles to inch

to give an idea of the size of the 'map'.

sea area
sea shaded
anchorages
ships

The sea is shaded by horizontal lines.
image snip from map

Off the west coast is labelled:-

The English Channel

Spit Head

is labelled, and:-

St Helen's Road

is labelled off the east of the Isle of Wight
There are various square rigged ships in the seas.
image snip from map

coastal defence
castles

Two of the coastal castles are labelled:-

Hurst Cast.

Calshot Castle

It is possible to imagine hints of polygonal style fortifications in the drawing at Calshot: this is one of Henry VIII's castles, built before the period of angle bastions.

rivers

Rivers are drawn greatly out of scale, much too gross. Hampshire's chief rivers are labelled, eg:-

Test R.

Itchin R.

Avon R

relief

Hills are drawn realistically, in perspective, but exagerated. Do not trust the drawings as a guide to Hampshire's landscape.
image snip from map

woods

Trees coat the hills:-
image snip from map

and other vegetation is drawn as romantically as the rest.
image snip from map

settlements

city
town

The towns are shown by smaller or larger drawings, each a small but unreliable prospect of the place. Some are labelled:-

Petersfield, Portsmouth, Havant, Farham, Waltham, Alton, Alresford, Winchester, Whitchurch, Southampton, Stockbridge, Rumsey, Andover, Lymington, Ringwood, Fording Bridge, Christ Church, Pool

roads
road distances
distances from London

A road stretches down from the vantage point through Havant to Winchester, then via Southampton across the New Forest, to Christchurch and perhaps Poole. It is not drawn realistically.
Printed at the bottom of the map sheet is a list of distances of stages on the road from London to Poole:-

From Alton to Alresford 9.5. to Winchester 3.4. to Rumsey 12.1 to Ringwood / 17.5. to Pool 14. in all 56.7. from London 54 Miles.

The distances are given in miles.furlongs, and the stages add up correctly as stated. But where is 54 miles from London?
These are not the distances along the road in the drawing.

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PUBLICATIONS

The map was published in 'The British Monarchy: Or, a New Chorographical Description of all the Dominions Subject to the King of Great Britain. Comprehending the British Isles, The Electoral States, The American Colonies, The African and Indian Settlemts. And enlarging more particularly on The respective Counties of England and Wales. To which are added Full and exact Lists of the Navy, the Army, the Officers of State, the Revenue, and Justice; with all the Salaries, as fix'd both by the Civil and Military Establishments. The Whole illustrated with suitable Maps and Tables; likewise, adorned with Head-Pieces, and other Embellishments; And Engrav'd by George Bickham. GB. Fecit. Publish'd according to Act of Parliament, October 1st. 1743. And sold by G. Bickham in James Street, Bunhill-Fields, & by the Booksellers and Printsellers in Town & Country.

A further title page is 'A Description of the several Counties In South Britain; Containing, England and Wales. London: Sold by G. Bickham junr. in Mays Buildings Covent Garden, according to Act of Parliament March 29th 1750. N.B. Whosoever coppy the Maps shall be Sued as the Law directs, & by reason of ye Work contain'd in each Map, they must go as two Pages.'

The atlas was issued in parts from 1743, the Hampshire map is dated 1750, as a whole the atlas cannot have been issued before 1754; as well as maps which are birds eye views, it has much text, tables of data, coats of arms, etc; its size is 7 1/2 x 12 1/2 ins.

Another state of the title page includes '... To which are added Alphabets in all the Hands made use of in this Book. ...'; Bickham was a teacher of calligraphy and engraving.

Published in another edition in 1749.

Published in 'A Curious Antique Collection Of Birds-Eye Views Of The Several Counties In England & Wales; Exhibiting A Pleasing Landscape Of Each County; With A Variety Of Rustic Figures, Ruins, &c. &c. And The Names Of The Principal Towns And Villages, Interspersed According To Their Apparent Situation. Finely Engraved on Forty Six Plates. By George Bickham, Junior, London: Published By Robert Laurie And James Whittle, Map, Chart, And Print Sellers, No.53, Fleet Street, (Successors To The Late Mr. Robert Sayer.) 1796.

The birds eye view map is unchanged, but notes imprint and date are cut off the bottom, some of the notes at the top cut off, and the title re-engraved, Hampshire is plate 12 (?); the atlas size is 7 1/2 x 10 3/4 ins.

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THE BRITISH MONARCHY

These notes are made from an atlas, The British Monarchy, county maps of Britain etc, by George Bickham, published London 1743 onwards. The atlas studied is the facsimile edition:-

Bickham, George & Graham, Frank (ed): 1967 & 1748 (original): British Monarchy: Frank Graham (Newcastle upon Tyne):: ISBN 0 90049 02 9

The editor's notes give background information about the atlas which began to appear from 1743. My notes are strongly biased to a Hampshire interest in maps, and are NOT a comprehensive study of the atlas.

Frontispiece

The frontispiece has an illustration of Britannia engraved by Gravelot. She sits against a pillar, near St Paul's in London. In her right hand is a plant, in her left a spear, and there is an oval shield below with the cross of St George. A caption reads:-

Fair Britain thus in stately Pomp appears: / Her Might and Majesty the World revers. / From Pole to Pole She hears her Acts resound / And rules an Empire by no Ocean bound.

Title Page

The title page reads:-

THE British Monarchy: Or, a New Chorographical Description Of all the Dominions Subject to the KING of GREAT BRITAIN. Comprehending The British Isles, The Electoral States, The American Colonies, The African and Indian Settlements. And enlarging more particularly on The respective Counties of ENGLAND and WALES. To which are added ALPHABETS In all Hands made use of in this Book. The Whole Illustrated with suitable Maps and Tables; likewise, adorned with Head-Pieces, and other Embellishments; and Engrav'd by George Bickham.

GB Fecit

Publish'd according to Act of Parliament, October 1st. 1748. and Sold by G. Bickham in James Street, Bunhill-Fields, & by the Booksellers and Printsellers in Town & Country.

All this in flowing calligraphy. George Bickham was a renowned engraved of fine penmanship and wrote a series of articles on calligraphy.

General Map

There is a small general map:-

A Map of the South Part of Great Britain, Called England and Wales. ... G Bickham Fecit

orientation
compass rose
up is N

Printed upper right of centre is a compass rose; star points for the cardinal directions, lines for half cardinal and false points, North marked by a fleur de lys, East by a cross. The map is printed with North at the top of the page.

lat and long scales

Printed in the map borders are scales of latitude and longitude; chequered at 10 minutes intervals, labelled at degrees, from a prime meridian in the Atlantic at about 28d W from Greenwich.

longitude, Winchester = 26d 50m E approximately

The projection implied is a trapezoidal projection, the top and bottom longitude scales are different, BUT the top scale is wider than the bottom - this is the wrong way round. Presumably the engraver doesn't understand what he is doing.

Church of England

Hampshire is listed within:-

The Province of Canterbury

WINCHESTER, Hampshire, Surrey, the Iles of Wight, Guernsey, and Jersey.

Chart of the Sea Coast

With his general description of Britain, Bickham gives:-

title

Printed at the top:-

A Chart of the Sea Coast.

and at the bottom:-

This Chart shews all the Sea Coasts of England and Wales with the Royal Docks, Fortifications Harbours Sands. &c.

Like his other maps this is sort of in perspective; in fact it looks very 'flat' and its poor mapping is only slightly alleviated by a scene of ships near the shore, at the lower edge of the engraving.

The shape of the coast line of Hampshire is not well drawn. The islands of Portsea and Hayling are poorly engraved, and so the harbours are not clear - even though Portsmouth Harbour is the Royal Navy's major base, a part of what the map intends to show. Southampton Water is hardly to be recognised. The places relevant to Hampshire are, west to east along the shore:-


place		map's name

Christchurch		Christ Church
Hurst Castle, Milford on Sea		Hurst Castle
Calshot Castle, Fawley		Caisnot
Southampton		Southampton
Block House Fort, Gosport		Block House F.
Portsmouth		Portsmouth
Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth		Royl Dock
Southsea Castle. Portsmouth		South Sea C.
Spithead		SPITHEAD

Introduction

The introduction to the county maps comments on the order of presentation:-

In the several Descriptions of the Counties of England that have been hitherto published, we have observed that two Methods have been followed by different Authors: The one, to place them Alphabetically, without regard to their Situation; and the other, to follow the Order of their Situation, without regard to the Alphabet, beginning at the South West & continuing to the South East, & so taking them, as they lie in Lines, quite up to the North.

We were advised to follow the latter of these Methods, as much the most Natural. A near similitude of Soil, Produce and Manners may be expected, & will be usually found in Countries that lie Contiguous, which will all gradually change as we proceed: But to leap at once from Northamptonshire to Northumberland, Or, which is much farther, from Cornwall to Cumberland, as we must in the Alphabetical Way, is to be continually carrying the Reader into a New World, in order, perhaps, to bring him back again the next Page.

We might mention, that Moll's County Maps run in our Order.

An insight to atlas planning. The contiguous order seems to assume that the reader is busy reading from one end of the atlas to the other; not dipping in for one county at a time, which is more easily found alphabetically. There is also an underlying assumption that it is possible to list, in one dimension, in a sensible order, a set of areas in two dimensions that are not in a simple array.

Headpieces

Several headpieces in the atlas include illustrations of scientific instruments, particularly surveying instruments. The headpiece to the Introduction, p.40, is a good example. Ten cherubs are busy in a classical landscape with broken pillar, blocks of stone, etc. They are surveyors and geometers. Two on the left are fiddling with a theodolite, a proper altazimuth instrument, the telescope is clearly mounted with a scale to measure its vertical angle. The instrument is unsteady on its tripod. Another two are looking at a diagram engraved of circle and inscribed square; one hopes that they are not trying to square the former. Another cherub holds an outline map on a slab - meant to be England and Wales, but no high marks for the depiction. His companion lounges, bored, by the slab. Two more cherubs are more seriously regarding a diagram of Pythagoras's theorem; squares erected on the sides of a right triangle and the construction lines for the geometrical proof. It's difficult to see if they've got it right. The last pair of cherubs are in the background surveying with a horizontal protractor on a three legged stand.

Household Gods

The description of Wiltshire is illustrated with engravings of a group of household gods:-

At the Devizes, in this County, were found A.D. 1714, and supposed to have been buried there in 234, these Household Gods, in Number 19, with a Medal of Alexander Severus; which Pieces of Antiquity are here exhibited, being great Curiosities.

Some of these household gods were used by Hermann Moll, 1724, as side illustrations on his map of Hampshire. The two sets of pictures are curiously different; they are reversed from each other. The reversal is the sort of thing that an engraver might get wrong; for example by copying from a copper plate and reversing again out of habit? While the head on the coin of Severus Alexander is reversed, the inscription is not. I would guess that these engravings are copied from those on Herman Moll's map of Hampshire, 1724.

More information about the figures is found in Musgrave 1719 and Boon 1972; or:-

see:-

related Map Group -- Musgrave 1719

The figurines were numbered by Musgrave; in Bickham illustration the corresponding figures are laid out roughly as:-

1 10 8 5

2 11 9 16

3 13 4 7

- 18 19 14

17 16 15

-- 12 --

The same numbers are used on plates 57/58 by Boon. Some of the figures are now in the British Museum; others are lost.

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DESCRIPTIVE TEXT

There are three pages of descriptive text in the map collection from The British Monarchy. The text pages are item HMCMS:FA1999.77.2. Transcriptions:-

Page 57

The first page is headed by an imaginery scene; a cottage by the bank of a river in which a horseman lets his mount drink, just outside a gateway. In the sky two cherubs hold up the coat of arms of Winchester.

Hampshire

Hampshire (properly the County of Southampton, from the principal Town) is bounded on ye North by Berkshire, on the East by Surry & Sussex, on the South by the British Channel, and on the West by Dorsetshire & Wiltshire.

The Air is mild & wholesome, but towards the South subject to Sea Vapours. The Soil is rich. The chief Commodities are Corn, Cattle, Wool, Wood, Iron, excellent Honey, and the best Bacon in England. Kersies, Stuffs, and some Cloths, are here manufactured. Rivers are the Tees, Avon, Stowre, Itching, and some others.

The People in general have ye Advantage of ye more westerly Counties from their greater Vicinity to London: but in ye New Forest one may expect as much simplicity & want of Breeding, as in any Part of the Kingdom.

Page 58

Besides the Knights of ye Shire, & the Citizens of Winchester, Hampshire chuses tow Burgesses for each of ye following Towns,

Southampton, Stockbridge, Whitchurch, Portsmouth, Christchurch, and Petersfield, Limington, Andover.

To which if we add the Six Members for the Isle of Wight (a Part of this County) chosen at

Newport, Yarmouth, Newton,

the whole Number of Representatives will be Twenty-Six.

Winchester is famous for its Cathedral & College, ye former finished, and the latter founded, by ye famous Bishop William of Wickham. A Palace was begun here by King Charles II, but never finished.

Southampton has been more considerable than at present; but is still a good Town, and a County in itself. But the Place in this County now most worthy of notice is Portsmouth, the best Fortification in England, the chief rendezvous of the Royal Navy, and a great marine Arsenal. It is of late Years vastly increased. The Haven may contain a thousand large ships.

New Forest, between the Avon & Hampton Water, was made by William the Conqueror, who laid waste for that Purpose thirty six Parishes.

Silchester, on ye North Edge of this County, now only a Farmhouse and a Church, is the antient Vindonum of ye Romans, whose Walls, almost entire, are two Miles in Compass.

Noblemen's Seats here are Basing-House & Abbotson,

Page 59

the Duke of Bolton's; Rockburn-house, Earl of Shaftesbury's; Hursborn, Earl of Portsmouth's; Farnborough-house, Earl of Anglesea's; Eadesworth. Lord Dormor's; Whorwell, Lord Delamere's; and the Earl of Peterborough's, at Southampton.

...

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REFERENCES

Bickham, George: 1733=1741: Universal Penman: (London)

Boon, George C: 1972: Genius and Lar in Celtic Britain: Jahrbuch des Roemisch-Germanuschen Zentralmuseums (Mainz, Germany):: pp.265-269 and plates

Musgrave, William: 1719: Antiquitates Britanno-Belgae & Belgio Britannico, De (vol.1): (Exeter, Devon): vol.1: pp.123-152 and plates

Schire, D: 1966: (article on Bickham's British Monarchy): Map Collector's Circle

Bickham, George & Graham, Frank (ed): 1967 & 1748 (original): British Monarchy: Frank Graham (Newcastle upon Tyne):: ISBN 0 90049 02 9

Bickham, George snr: 1754 (?): British Monarchy, The & New Chorographical Description of all the Dominions Subject to the King of Great Britain: (London)

Bickham, George jnr: 1796: Curious Antique Collection of Birds-eye Views of the Several Counties of England and Wales: (London)

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ITEMS

in HMCMS Map Collection (scanned item in bold)

HMCMS:FA1999.77.1 -- map

HMCMS:FA1999.77.2 -- descriptive text

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All Old Hampshire Mapped Resources