Research Notes


Map Group WHITWORTH 1770

Whitworth 1770
Canal map, Plan of the proposed Navigable Canal from Andover to Redbridge, Southampton, in the County of Southampton, ie the Andover Canal, Hampshire, scale about 1 inch to 1 mile, surveyed by Robert Whitworth, engineer, 1770, revised 1789.

These notes are taken from a plan in the Map Collection of Hampshire CC Museums Service, item HMCMS:FA1997.111.
The map size is: wxh, sheet 78.5x40.5cm; wxh, plate 643x281mm; wxh, map 628x265mm.
 
MAP FEATURES
THE CANAL
ITEMS in the Collection

MAP FEATURES
title    
map maker    

Printed across the top of the wide page is:-
A PLAN of the intended NAVIGABLE CANAL from ANDOVER to REDBRIDGE in the County of SOUTHAMPTON / Survey'd in March 1770, and revis'd in 1789 by ROBT. WHITWORTH Engineer.

orientation    
compass rose    
up is E    

The canal runs north-south; it is printed on a wide sheet with East at the top of the page. There is a simple compass rose printed centrally; star points for the cardinal directions, lines for the half cardinal directions, North marked by a fleur de lys.
From my own experience I note that a tall and thin canal map, which for this canal would put North at the top, has the advantage of giving more space for place name and other labels.

scale line    
scale    

Printed lower left is a scale of:-
British Statue Miles.
chequered in quarter miles for the first mile, then in half miles, labelled at mile intervals. 10 miles = 100.0 mm gives a scale 1 to 64374. The map scale is about:-
1 to 64000
1 inch to 1 mile.

coast line    
coast form lines    

At Redbridge at the end of Southampton water, the coast is drawn with form lines. These extend up the rivers and the canal.

rivers    
bridges    

The:-
River Anton or Test
is followed by the canal to Fullerton, from where it follows the River Anton, which is drawn but not labelled.
A small unlabelled tributary of the Test is shown at Nursling, which drains the Ashfield area, crossing the canal to the river. The:-
Titburn Brook
is shown as a tributary to the Test coming through Romsey from the east, crossing the canal in the town. The larger River Dun is drawn as an insignificant tributary from the west between Kimbridge and Mottisfont - but it is probably not relevant to the hydrology of the canal. The stream through Kings Somborne is drawn crossing under a bend of the canal to a bend in the river. The Wallop Brook at Bossington is not shown; it comes from the west and does not cross the canal.
The small tributary to the Anton:-
Pillhill Brook
is shown and labelled at Upper Clatford, crossing under the canal with ponds looking as if they are made by the canal embankment, to the west.
Braiding of the Test and other streams is shown in some detail; but I have not attempted to check the truth of its mapping. The detail of the streams is simplified.
Some of the river bridges are shown, on the River Test, and some of them are labelled:-
Skidmore Bridge [S of Romsey]
Great Bridge [N of Romsey]
Timsbury Bridge [N of Romsey]
Horsebridge [by Houghton]
Kitcomb Bridge
and on the Pillhill Brook:-
Little Ann Bridge
There are many other unlabelled bridges over the rivers and streams.

relief    
hill hachuring    

Hill hachuring is used to mark the eastern side of the Test Valley, up which the canal climbs, with some hillsides to the west. A hill is marked:-
Midla Hill
by Lakeford.

woods    
No forests or woods are shown, there are none of significance? A few tree symbols are used to indicate woodland, for example at Kings Somborne, at Broadlands and at Grove Place.

parks    
Parks are not particulary marked by any symbol, though some trees are likely, as at Broadlands for example, where they are in a neat row.
Grove Place
Broadlands
Marsh Court
are labelled. These might have lands effected by the canal?

parishes    
table of parishes    

Parish boundaries are a fine dotted line (I think). The parishes through which the canal passes are labelled by a letter keying to a table printed lower right:-
PARISHES.
A Andover
B Upper Clatford
C Lower Clatford
...
O Millbrook

settlements    
street map    

Settlements are shown through which the canal passes, or which it serves closely. They are marked by blocks and groups of blocks along roads which might become a street plan in a town.
town     groups of blocks in a street plan; labelled in italic block caps, eg:-
ANDOVER
RUMSEY
The large town of Southampton, a mile or two from the end of the canal, has upright block caps.
village     blocks along a road, perhaps with a drawing of a church; labelled in upright lowercase text, eg:-
Ling's Somborn
Longstoke
hamlet     and other places, a block or two; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Bolsington
Park farm
Fullerton
Kimbridge Mill

roads    
Roads are drawn by a double line; these might be solid or dotted, perhaps indicating fenced and unfenced roads. There is an attempt to suggest road size by the width of drawing.
miscellaneous    


mills    
water mills    

Water mills are shown along the River Test:-
Mill [Romsey]
Kimbridge Mill
Houghton Mill
and on the River Anton:-
Nours's Mill [Lower Clatford]
Clatford Mill
Rooksbury Mill
Mr Barlow's Mill [S of Andover]

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THE CANAL

The canal is the important feature of the map; but is not exaggerated in the drawing.
The course of the canal follows up the east side of the valley of the River Test from an entrance off Southampton Water at Redbridge. It leaves this valley, crossing over the river, and follows the tributary valley of the River Anton, crossing it first, up the west side, to Andover. Although the canal follows rivers it remains independent of them, makes no attempt to be a river navigation. The rivers and steams crossed are noted above.

Along the plan there are numbers by the canal; from 1 near Andover to 89 at Southampton Water. Another short series numbers what looks like an artificial pond on the Pillhill Brook, from 90 at Little Ann Bridge to 96 at Upper Clatford. These numbers are not equispaced, ie they are not distances. They do not relate to altitude. It would be helpful to have the descriptive text belonging to the map, to understand this feature, and perhaps other detail. (Nothing useful, like a schedule, has been found in the HantsRO collection to explain these numbers: MN: 2.2002.)

canal locks     Canal locks are drawn by the double arrow symbol that is familiar today. They are counted from the Andover end, and some are labelled, eg:-
3d Lock
at Lower Clatford, and:-
21st Lock
the last, just before Southampton Water.
The fall of the canal from Andover to redbridge is given in a table printed lower right, in feet and inches:-
From Andover to Stockbridge 65:8
Stockbridge to Rumsey 61:4
Rumsey to Redbridge 49:9
Total 176:9
The average fall of a lock is about 8 feet 5 inches.

canal bridges     Canal bridges are drawn where the roads cross. None is numbered or named; the names by some of them all apply to the nearby river bridge, not the canal bridge.

canal feeder     It could be that the pond made on the Pillhill Brook was planned as a water supply for the canal.


table of distances    
The length of the canal is given in the table printed lower right, in miles:furlongs:chains.yards:-
From Andover to Stockbridge 7:7:6.12
Stockbridge to Rumsey 9:3:8.60
Rumsey to Redbridge 5:1:4.63
Total 22:4:9.25
There is a small mystery in these figures; the last unit, fractions of a chain, are not named. If you add the figures there have to be 110 of the unknown unit to 1 chain. (OR: the sum is wrong.)

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ITEMS  in HMCMS Map Collection   (scanned item in bold)
  HMCMS:FA1997.111 -- canal map
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