notes Norden 1595

	Research Notes Map Group NORDEN 1595

Norden 1595
	Map, Hamshire ie Hampshire, scale about 4 miles to 1 inch, drawn by John Norden, 1595.
	These notes are made from the map of Hampshire by John Norden, 1595, published in an amended state by John Overton, London, 1670-1700. The map studied is in the Map Collection of Hampshire CC Museums Service, item HMCMS:FA1999.58.
	JOHN NORDEN
	MAP FEATURES
	READING & IDENTIFICATION OF PLACES
	PUBLISHING HISTORY & MANUSCRIPT LINKS
	REFERENCES
	ITEMS in the Collection

JOHN NORDEN
	John Norden was born about 1540s, graduated from Hart Hall, Oxford and began a career as a lawyer which involved him in land tenure and surveying. Notice two important innovations on his map; the provision of an index grid, and the declaration of his conventional signs in a table of symbols (which had been used earlier in Europe). John Evelyn reports a remark by Captain Greenville Collins, hydrographer, the 'He [Collins] affirmed, that of all the Mapps put out since, there are none extant so true as those of Jo: Norden who gave us the first in Q: Eliz: time ...'
	John Norden wrote an introductory statement to his:-
	Speculum Britanniae ... a Mirror of Britain
	for which this map was drawn.
	Because evrye publique worke, is alwaies publiquely considered, and it is lawfull (I confesse) for alle men, to utter their opinions thererof freely as they finde it, and to call a fault a faulte. And because I cannot justifie all the Liniaments of so rude a body, I will saye with him that findes the fault (though in Art he cannot mend the same) Sir it is a fault and I will mend it if I can: But I have not yet seene the worke of the most absolute artist so perfect.
	top of page

MAP FEATURES
title cartouche strapwork cartouche map maker publisher	Printed upper left of centre in a strapwork cartouche is:- HAMSHIRE Printed lower right in a strapwork cartouche is:- Johes Norden descripsit - Printed and sold by John Overton at ye white horse without Newgate There three different hands in the engraving; the first three words are [presumably] original, the next four and ' ye white horse' were [presumably] an amendment by Peter Stent who printed the map in the 1650s-60s, the rest is John Overton's. Similar alterations to engraving can be spotted in other parts of the map.
coat of arms	There are four coats of arms printed in spare spaces around the county. Upper left is the royal coat of arms; quarterly, 1 and 4 having the fleur de lys of France, 2 and 3 having the lions of England, with supporters of a lion and dragon, and mottoes:- HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENCE DIEU ET MON DROIT Middle left is a personal coat of arms in a strapwork cartouche crest a helm surmounted by a globe, and motto:- OPERA MUNDI These are the arms of William Sanderson, a friend of Norden, and:- a wealthy merchant and well-known patron of geographical undertakings On the right above centre is the arms of:- John Pawlet Marquis of Winchester Ano~. 1551. by K: Edward in the engraving of this are colour letters s - sable for the ground, and a - argent for the swords. The arms has a tiny crescent, a mark of cadency? On the right below centre is the arms of:- Thomas Wriotheosley created Earle of Southampton An~o. 1551 by K: Ed: 6t. which also has colour letters to guide a map colourist.
orientation compass rose up is N dividers	Printed in the sea area south of Hayling is a compass rose with broad star points for the cardinal, half cardinal, false and by points. The cardinal directions are labelled:- Septen / or / merid / oc for septentriones - north, oriens - east, meridiens - south, occidens - west. The compass is suspended from a ring held by a cherub who has a pair of compasses in its other hand. The map is orientated with up being north.
scale scale line index grid old english mile	Printed at the foot of the table of hundreds it says:- The scale of miles goeth rounde about the Mapp All four map borders are chequered to show miles, west-east and north-south; the origin of the scales is top left. Each two miles is labelled across top and bottom, 2, 4, 6, ... 48. The labelling on the sides runs down a, b, c, ... x (no 'i' or 'u'). Besides being scale lines the scales and the grid printed across the map in fine lines make an index grid. John Norden's provision of an index grid is an innovation in map making. Calculations have been made to overlay the National Grid system on the map. For details, and how this grid can be used compare early county maps, and to index places, see:-
	Old Hampshire Mapped
	By comparing the headings of the towns from the centroids, and averaging, it is calculated that NGR north is -8.2 degrees from map north.
	The grid references of the map borders were calculated as:- bottom left SY885867 top left SU024823 top right TQ041676 bottom right SZ902720
	This could be useful to present the map in a GIS system.
	The scale can be estimated from the scale line:- 48 miles = 400.5 mm Wrongly assuming a modern statute miles this gives a scale 1 to 192880; the map scale is about:- 1 to 190000 3 miles to 1 inch A better estimate of scale has been estimated from the positions of towns, also providing a value of the 'old english mile' used in Norden in 1595. The process is described in notes DISTTAB.rul accompanying software which does the sums. The map scale is about 1 to 241379, say:- 1 to 240000 4 miles to 1 inch Norden uses an:- Old English Mile = 1.24 statute miles
table of symbols	Printed upper left, interfering with the county boundary is:- Explanation of the Map This is an untidy tabulation of symbol / text explanation / count of instances [dot and circle, two towers, ?weathercock] / Market townes / 18 [dot and circle, tower] / Parishes & places of cure / 248 [dot and circle, upright line] / Hamlets et villages / [dot and circle, upright line and half bar] / Chappells of ease / [dot and circle, two towers] / Howses of besterecite / [dot and circle] / Howses of name / [dot and circle, crossed out by a slash] / Places ruinate and decaid / [dot and circle, two towers, flag] / Castles / 5 [dotted circle, flag] / old trenches & fortes / [dot and circle, cross] / Monasticall places / [hillock, three posts] / Beacons or beaukens and Hills / [trees] / Woody places / [dotted line] Devision for Hundreds / [wiggly lines, double line] / Rivers Bridges / [dotted ring, trees] / Parkes / The formal declaration of his conventional signs is an innovation in english mapmaking introduced by Norden, though used earlier in Europe. Looking closely the heading, the count numbers, and all the engraving from 'and Hill' onwards are added to what was a neater table. It is possible to see the end of the original table's cartouche. The amendments are on the earlier, Stent, state of the map, unchanged by Overton.
sea area sea moire effect sea monsters ships	The sea is engraved with a moire effect pattern. The Solent is labelled:- PARTE OF YE BRITISH SEA Off Hurst there is a large fishes's head and about Spithead can be seen the ghostly remains of an erased engraving of a galleon, perhaps making space for the sea area label.
coast line coast shaded harbours headlands	The coast line is emphasised by shading. Foreshore areas of mudflats or shingle are shown pecked, and THE MACKETT is labelled off Hayling. Only:- Titchfeilde ha Hamble ha are explicitly labelled as harbours, and:- black cliffe Hengistbury head as coastal features.
coastal defence castles fortifications	Several coastal defence castles are drawn and labelled:- hurst castle calshott cast St. Androws cast south castle and also, marked as a ruin:- Ruynes of hasel worth castle Artillery style fortifications are clearly drawn around Portsmouth.
rivers lakes bridges	Rivers are drawn by broad wiggly lines tapering inland. Ateam might have a pond at its head, an echo of a medieval convention? The lower parts might be shaded and have stream or form lines, for example in the Itchen. Braiding might be shown. Rivers are not named. The braiding of the stream near Cove in the north east of the county:- is probably Eelmoor Marsh Some bridges are drawn, by a double line arched over the stream, for example at Ringwood:- and at Fordingbridge on the Avon, and Newtown on the Enborne. Some lakes and ponds are shown, for example at Highclere and Fleet.
relief hillocks	Hillocks, shaded to the east, indicate relief. Few hills are labelled, but see:- Butser hill toothill
beacons	Beacons are drawn by posts, generally three - small large small, on a hillock. A few are labelled; all can be recognised:- Burghclere, S of village Popham, SW of village, labelled:- 3 patow beacons Farleigh, SW of village Farley, W of Pitt Toothill, N of Chilworth, labelled:- toothill Beacon Botley, W of village Titchfield, W of village Selborne, SW of Brockenhurst, labelled:- Selborn bea[c] Hyth, W of village Malwood, perhaps Exton, NW of village Crondall, S of Cove. 2 hillocks each with 3 posts Portsdown, N of Cosham
woods forests trees	Tree symbols show woody areas (including Woolmer Forest which probably was bare). Some of the old forests are labelled:- BUCK HOLT FORRESTE Wutmer FOrrest FOREST OF EAST BEARE Weste beare forrest The placement of the labels demonstrates the difficulties of that map making task. If you didn't know that there is a West Bere Forest you might never have associated the detached letters scattered between 'sparshott', 'wecke', 'pitt' and hillock and tree symbols:- A single tree on a hillock is labelled:- lomerash NW of Exton.
parks	Parks are shown by a ring of fence palings, shaded to the east. Many of these have a house symbol inside, and might include a tree or more. The house or park might be labelled, eg:- rotherfeilde parke pke Trees are placed in parks with some thought, not just decoratively:- fremantle pk
county	The county boundary is a dotted line. Adjoining counties are labelled, eg:- parte of Wiltshire PARTE of SusSEX with a mixture of swash and plainer mixed case lettering. The detached:- part of hamshire from Ambersham to Fernden, is drawn and labelled.
hundreds table of hundreds	Printed in a strapwork cartouche upper left is a table:- HUNDREDES In hamshire 40 The count number is added. The table lists the hundreds against a key number, eg:- 1 Crundall hundred 2 Odiam 3 Alton ... The numbers are marked in areas on the map. The hundred boundaries are dotted lines.
settlements	Settlements are positioned by a dot and circle, and differentiated by symbols explained in a table, but not by the style of lettering. Names may or may not have leading capital letter.
city town walls town gates	The county capital is drawn with a cluster of buildings and towers, town walls, town gates, and site astride braids of the River Itchen; labelled in lowercase italic text:- Winchester
town	Towns have several buildings and towers, with what could be a weathercock on a mast on a tower, Southampton is drawn bigger; labelled in lowercase italic text, eg:- lymington Southampton Odyam
village	Villages ie 'parishes', have a tower; labelled in lowercase italic text, eg:- quareley Exton
hamlet	Hamlets ie 'villages' have an upright line atop the dot and circle; labelled in lowercase italic text, eg:- blackwater hyth
	Other settlements have variations on the line on the dot and circle, all explained in the table of symbols.
house	An ordinary house of name:- stanbridge A house of best reception:- wintney and a rather more magnificent example, the house of an important courtier:- basing

religious houses	Chapel of ease, Holy Ghost Chapel outside Basingstoke:- And monasticall places:- somerford beaulieu
miscellaneous
mills water mills windmills	A fine post mill is drawn on a hillock W of Chalton. A circle with paddles is drawn in the Bourne Rivulet between Hurstbourne and St Mary Bourne.
copperas works	On the coast W of Christchurch are:- Allom chine copperas house bascambe copperas house
antiquities hillforts	'old trenches and fortes' are marked on the map. For example the hillforts at Burghclere, by the beacon, and at Butser. Silchester and Danebury have the symbols for 'places ruinate and decaid'.
ruins	John Norden uses a 'crossing out' to indicate places that are ruined and decayed. This is applied to a variety of symbols, for example:- the ruins of Haselworth Castle; the circle with a flag is crossed out.
	top of page

READING &	IDENTIFICATION OF PLACES
	It is worth reading John Norden's place names on this map very carefully. We believe that this map is the one copied by several succeeding map makers who misread the engraved names in ways that can be clearly understood from careful inspection of the letter shapes used here.
	The place name labels sometimes have an extended last stroke, or perhaps leading stroke, joining the place name to the symbol it is labelling. durley is a clear example, the tail of the y curling up and reaching to the dot and circle. There appears to be a pattern of using a single label for more than one symbol, two or even three. Eg:- hursley - labels a parish ie village, and a park with its house. And, eg:- warneforde - labels a parish ie village, a house of best reception, and a ruined and decayed place. This is more complicated in that we believe the house to be the ruin, two symbols for one entity. Only occasionally are symbols completely isolated from an obvious label, for example, an ordinary house south of Idsworth has no label.
	John Norden was clearly at some pains to differentiate settlements, but interpreting his intentions from the table of symbols is not easy. We do not believe that his parish symbol:-
	[dot and circle, tower] / Parishes & places of cure
	is meant to plot a parish, an area, we think it plots a village which has the status of being a parish, has the parish church. This sort of dual thinking is still common today. The chapel of ease symbol seems more likely to indicate a hamlet that has the care of a chapel; or were there really that many little chapels all over the county? - our knowledge of Elizabethan society is lacking. A house of best reception symbol can often be matched to a great house, not necessarily still standing. But how much is the place just a house, and how much does the symbol also represent a settlement of dependent dwellings round about? This is even more likely to be the case with an ordinary house, the place marked is a hamlet. It is up to the user to decide on these questions. We have matched the settlements on the map to known settlements as well as we can in Gazetteer for Norden 1595, indexed by placename or by hundred, in:-
	Old Hampshire Mapped
	top of page

PUBLISHING	HISTORY & MANUSCRIPT LINKS
	This map was drawn for 'Speculum Britanniae' a Mirror of Britain, which was to be a series of pocket guide books to the counties of Britain which failed to get patronage, and thus failed entirely.
	The map is included in manuscript 'A Chorographical Description of the severall Shires and Islands of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Weighte, Guernsey and Jersey, performed by the traveyle and view of John Norden, 1595.' See British Museum Add MSS 31.853 ff.23v-24. This has only the maps and descriptions for Essex and Hampshire, the latter has the islands as well, other material is lost.
	see -- Norden 1595 ms
	Transcription of the manuscript relating to Hampshire can be seen in:-
	Old Hampshire Mapped
	The map was engraved by Christopher Schwytzer and possibly published around 1600, but no copy survives?
	Published by Peter Stent, at The White Horse, Guiltspur Street, London, about 1650s-60s.
	The map is probably listed in a broadside 'A Catalogue of Plates and Pictures that are printed and sould by Peter Stent ...' about 1655; this printing is known as state II, and has Stent's imprint; later editions are published in atlases.
	Published by John Overton, London, atlases 'I', 'II', 'III' and 'V', about 1670, 1675, 1690, and 1700.
	The 1670 map is known as state III, and has Overton's imprint; it has other alterations to whatever was its earlier state, the table of symbols is altered, a galleon is erased from the sea, etc.
	The 1595 drawing was engraved again about 1607 and published with an edition of Camden's Britannia; see Norden 1607.
	top of page

REFERENCES
	Norden, John: 1595: Chorographical Description of the severall Shires ...::: British Museum Add MSS 31.853 ff.23v-24
	Box, E G: 1937: Norden's Map of Hampshire, 1595: ProcHFC: 13: pp.165-69
	Box, E G: 1937: Note on the Two Circular Maps: ProcHFC: 13: pp.260-61
	de Beer, W S: 1955: Diary of John Evelyn: (Oxford): vol.4: p.301
	Kitchen, Frank: 1991: John Norden's Speculum Britanniae ...: ProcHFC: 47: pp.181-89
	Laxton, Paul: : 250 Years of Mapmaking in the County of Hampshire
also see:-
	related map group -- Norden 1595ms
	related map group -- Norden 1607
	presentation in Old Hampshire Mapped

ITEMS	in HMCMS Map Collection (scanned item in bold)
	HMCMS:FA1999.58 -- map
	top of page

	All Old Hampshire Mapped Resources