Research Notes


Map Group ADAMS 1677

Adams 1677
NOTES from ADAMS'S MAP of ENGLAND, 1677
These notes are made from the map of England with Reputed Distances, Angliae Totius Tabula cum Distantiis Notioribus in Itinerantium Usum Accommodata, by John Adams, London, 1677. The item studied is in the British Library, Map Room, item K.Top.V.82 (2 Tab End) This example of the map is in a later state, with the imprint of Phillip Lea, and dedicated to William III.
The map size is: wxh, sheet = 201x189.5cm; wxh, map = 1771x1772mm excluding the outer decorative border. The map is 12 pieces, 3 across x 4 up, mounted together. Any measurements from the map, given below, will have errors from this mounting.
Remember that these notes are made for Hampshire, and are heavily biased towards interest in that county.
CONCEPTION
MAP FEATURES
PLACES in Hampshire
ROADS
REFERENCES


CONCEPTION The idea of this thematic map was conceived when John Adams was working with a Mr Lloyd of Shropshire, who was planning a fishery on the welsh coast. John Adams said:-
I endeavoured to compute what sale he might probably make in the neighbouring markets, by Projecting a Specimen, wherein making Aberdovey, a village on the Coast of Merionethshire, the first Landing place, I set down all the Markets within a hundred miles and entered the distance between them in Figures: and shortly after, coming to London, I made a Draught of all England and Wales in like manner, which being seen and approved by several knowing and judicious persons, I engraved upon Copper Plates, and finished a large Map of England, in Trinity Term, 1677, with computed and measured miles entered in Figures.
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MAP FEATURES
title    
Printed at the top is:-
ANGLIAE TOTIUS TABULA CUM DISTANTIIS NOTIORIBUS IN ITINERANTIUM USUM ACCOMMODATA

map maker    
engraver    

Printed lower right:-
Iohannes Adams INTERIORIS TEMPLI IUNIOR SOCIUS descripsit
Printed lower, right of centre:-
Thomas Burnford lineas Ellipses & Circulos sculpsit

coat of arms    
dedication    

Printed upper right is the royal coat of arms of William III, the Stuart coat of arms plus an inescutcheon with the arms of Nassau, and a dedication:-
SERENISSIMO AC POTENTISSIMO PRINCIPI DNo. GULIELMO III. DEI GRATIA MAGNA BRITANNIAE, FRANKIAE ET HIBERNIAE REGI, FIDEI DEFENSORI, ETC. HANC TABULAM REGIARUM VIARUM INDICEM HUMILIME CONSECRA PHILLIPUS LEA

table of symbols    
foliage cartouche    

Printed in a foliage cartouche, right, below centre:-
THE DESIGN OF This Map is to give an Account of Roads, and Distances without Scale or Compass.
ROADS are represented by strait parallel lines.
COMPUTED DISTANCES are included in small Circles, as From CANTERBURY to Feversham Eight Miles
ELLIPSES with figures therein express both Computation and Measure as From SHREWSBURY to Welchpole Twelve Miles by Computation and Nineteen Miles by Measure: From Shrewsbury to Wenlock Eight Miles by Computation and Thirteen Miles two Furlongs by Measure
...
The POST ROADS of England are distinguished from Other Roads by a prickt line in the midle, and the Computation of the Post Office is entred therein and the vulgar omitted if differing from the Post Account ...
...
Printed left below centre is:-
THIS MAP IS A Projection of ENGLAND and WALES, and of the Cities, Market Towns, and the most considerable Villages therein.
CITIES are contained in Oblong Squares with a double line ...
MARKET TOWNS either Oblong Squares with a single line ... Or in Ellipses with a double line ...
VILLAGES in Ellipses with a single line ...
The several Starrs denote the Center of the place mentioned ...
(Looking at the map it is clear that the 'stars' are used as centres to draw the straight line joins.)
Parallels of Latitude are drawn at every Five minutes East and West.
The North and South line passing through London is made the Prime Meridian: And Longitude is computed Easterly and Westerly from thence in Minutes of Longitude and Difference of Time ...
...
You may find the several Places named in the description by the intersection of the Lines of Latitude and Longitude which you may see in the Compartment Corresponding with this, on the East side of the Map.
The places are named in a companion work, an Index Villaris.
Printed lower right, in the corresponding panel:-
Hanc Tabulam tibi offero, Amice Lector, & ut Proiectionis Ratio tibi melius innotescat; Scias quod Supporo Meridianum, Tabulam bisecantem, Segmentum Solstitialis Coluri representare & Distantiam inter Parallelos 52 grad 30 min & 53 grad 30 min aequare Pedem apud Anglo usitatum & sic ad Calculum reduxi quod Tabula est Segmentum Planisphaerii cuius Radius aequat 91,741 Pedes, Perimeter vero 576,426 Pedes, Et in Constructione Paralleli Quinquaginta & trium Graduum verum eius Flexuram secundum Regulas Stereographicas Proiecti, omnesq; alios Parallelos etiam aequidistantes Designavi ut Scale aequalium Partium melius admittatur; Et ad eandem rationem Meridiani secantunum eundemq; Parallelum ad aequales distantias, Septentrionem vero versus aproximare Designantur secundum veram inqiolibet Gradu & Parallelo Proporsionem. Addo, quod in hac tabula Quinque Minuta Latitudinis aequantunum Anglicum Digitum, & duodecem Digiti unum Pedem, quorum 5280 Anglicum Miliare constituunt.
This description of the projection and the projection were studied by Ravenhill, 1978, who concluded that the it is a conical modification to an equatorial stereographic projection ... which would have taken a lot of time in calculations.

lat and long scales    
The map has scales of latitude and longitude; chequered in one minute intervals, labelled in 10 minute intervals.
To give some idea of the shape of the projection, without complicated analysis, the following were measured (beware errors of pasting):-
at 56d N, 1d longitude = 170.5 mm
at 50d N, 4d longitude = 194.9 mm
1d latitude = 302.2 mm
At the latitude of Hampshire, round about 51d N:-
ratio longitudes at 51d and 50d = 1.02
ratio latitude/longitude = 1.58
both figures just what they 'should' be.
The map includes from 2d 40m E to 6d 50m W, 50d 5m to 55d 45m N; England and Wales, part of Scotland and the edge of Ireland.

sea area    
sea plain    

The sea is plain; some sea areas are labelled, eg:-
THE BRITISH OCEAN OR CHANNEL
Spithead

coast line    
coast shaded    
headlands    
harbours    

The coast lne is shaded.
A few headlands are noticed, eg:-
Christchurch head
and a very few harbours, eg:-
Bewley H.

coastal defence    
castles    

Some of the Hampshire coastal defence castles are labelled:-
Hurst Castle
Calshot Castle
S Sea C

rivers    
The map in its first state showed little but settlements and routes. Rivers were added later, wiggly lines, with form lines where wider. Most of Hampshire's river systems are represented; some are named, eg:-
Itchin flu.
Test fl.
Some bridges are drawn.

forests    
In Hampshire there are a few tree symbols labelled:-
New F

county    
County boundaries are dotted lines. On the map studied the boundary was tinted on the inner side for each county. The county areas are labelled, eg:-
HAMPSHIRE

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PLACES in Hampshire
settlements    
Settlements are labelled in cartouches, circular or elliptical, double or single lines, as explained in a panel on the map. The positions of the settlements are marked by a star in each cartouche, and these were used when the straight line joins were drawn.
All 21 of the usual list of Hampshire towns are shown:-
Alton
Andover
Basingstoke
Bishops Waltham
Christchurch
Farnham
Fordingbridg
Gosport
Havant
Kingsclere
Lemington
Alresford
Odiham
Petersfield
Portsmouth
Ringwood
Rumsey
Southampton
Stockbridge
Whitchurch
Winchester
as well as some smaller places, important to routes.

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ROADS

The joins from settlement to settlement show distances from place to place; on each join there is a cartouche with the crow flight distance between the places in computed miles or measured miles and furlongs. Joins are not made just for close neighbours, which might represent routes, but also show direct joins between places further apart. The resulting confusion of lines and distance figures has to be seen to be fully appreciated: this is not a road map. However: at a local level the map is quite readable; and it is not difficult to follow a track and to add distances. The map works, but the reader must stay aware that road distances are always longer than direct distances.
The post roads are specially picked out by a dotted line between the double line. The Hampshire routes, with computed and measured distances, are:-
The London to Lands End road:-
from London; through Bagshot, Surrey; 8 / 9'1 to Hartley Rowe, 9 / 10'0 to Basingstoke, 11 / 11'4 to Whitchurch, 7 / 6'7 to Andover, 6 / 6'4 to Midle Wallop, Hampshire; 10 / 10/7 to Salisbury, Wiltshire, and on to the west.
The London to Southampton road, branching off this:-
Hartley Rowe 5 to Odiham, 5 to Alton, 10 / 9'6 to Alresford, 8 / 7'4 to Winchester, 12 / 12'2 to Southampton, Hampshire.
and a less usual London to Portsmouth route branching from this:-
Alton, 2 / 2'7 to Farindon street, 8 / 9'6 to Petersfield, 6 / 7'3 to Harnden, 4 / 5'7 to Cosham. 4 / 5 to Portsmouth, Hampshire.

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REFERENCES
Shirley, Rodney W: 1988: Printed Maps of the British Isles 1650-1750: Map Collector Publications & British Library:: ISBN 0 7123 01492 9

Ravenhill, William: 1978: John Adams, His Map of England, its Projection and his Index Villaris: Geographical Journal: vol.144: pp.424-437

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