Research Notes


Map Group GRAFTON 1572
Grafton 1572
These notes are made from the Table of Highways of the Road from Lands End to London, in Graftons Abridgements to the Chronicles of Englande, by Richard Grafton, London, 1572. The item studied is in the British Library collections.
GRAFTON 1572
LANDS-END ROAD TABLE
REFERENCES
GRAFTON 1572
Earlier editions of the Abridgement, 1562, 1563, and 1564, do not have tables of highways; the BL copy of the 1570 edition has tables bound in at the back, but it is not clear that they belong in this edition. The 1572 edition mentiosn the tables in the contnets list. The title is:-
Graftons Abridgement of the Chronicles of Englande, newely corrected & augmented, to thys present yere of our Lord. 1572. And in thende of thys Abridgement is added a propre and necessary Treatise, conteynyng many good Rules, & specially one excellent manner of Computacion of yeres, wherby you may readely finde the date & yeres of any evide~ce. The particular contents of this Booke appereth in the next page folowing. London, 1572.
The contents page has:-
The Contentes of this booke ... The high wayes also from one towne to an other muche larger then before hath ben set forthe.
There are 10 pages of tabulated itineraries. There were further editions up to 1611. The highways are the same as those selected for:-
Grafton, Richard: 1571: Litle Treatise, A ...: (London)

whose contents includes:-
... conteyning many proper Tables and rules ... ... The High wayes also from one towne to an other moche larger than before hath bet set forthe.
This has 19 pages of roads arranged in single column tables, headed:-
The high wayes from any noteable towne in England to the Citie of London. And lykewise from one noteable towne to an other, newly collected & set forth in a more larger & better maner then heretofore it hath ben.
There are 15 main routes and 23 branch or cross or alternative routes. The main routes include:-
St Burien to Exeter and London
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LANDS-END
ROAD TABLE
In Grafton's Abridgement, 1572, there is a table for the road from Lands End to London, crossing Hampshire:-

The high wayes from any notable towne in England to the Citie of London. And lykewise from one notable towne to an other, newly collected & set forth in a more larger & better maner then heretofore it hath ben.
From S. Buryen in Cornewal to Excester.
...
From Exceter to London.
...
From Salisbury to Andover xv.mi
From Andover to Basingstoke xvi.mile
From Basingstoke to Hertlerow viij.m
From Hertlerow to Bagshot viij.mi
...
... to London
...
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REFERENCES
Grafton, Richard: 1572: Abridgement of the Chronicles of Englande ...: (London)
Fordham, Herbert George, Sir: 1924: Road Books and Itineraries of Great Britain: Cambridge University Press
also see:- 
  other early tables of highways -- Fordham 1924
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