notes OVERTON 1708

	Research Notes Map Group OVERTON 1708

Overton 1708
	These notes are taken from A New and Exact Map of Great Britain, published by Henry Overton, London, 1708 as edited and reissued 1743. The item studied is in the Map Room, British Library, item BL:Maps 177.d.1.
	The map has two sheets, size: wxh, sheet = 61x49 and 61x48cm; wxh, map = 583x933mm. The map is likely to be a copy of work by Senex and Price. Remember that these notes are strongly biased towards a Hampshire interest.
	MAP FEATURES
	HAMPSHIRE TOWNS
	ROADS IN HAMPSHIRE

MAP FEATURES
map maker	Printed lower left on the South sheet:- Advertisement Just Published, A new & exact Map of Great Britain and Ireland from the latest & best Observations, to which are added several Prospects of Towns in each Kingdom (particularly) Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews, Sterling, &c. &c. the whole printed on two very large Sheets of Paper & coloured: price 1s. Likewise Ogilby's Pocket Map of England, price 1s. and Adams's Do. price 6d. very useful for all that travel. Printed for Henry Overton without Newgate 1745. Printed with the scale lines is:- Sold by Henry Overton at the White Horse without Newgate LONDON
title wreath cartouche dedication coat of arms	printed upper right on the North sheet in a wreath cartouche:- A NEW AND EXACT MAP OF GREAT BRITAIN ACCORDING TO THE LATEST AND BEST OBSERVATIONS. To the Most Serene and Most sacred Majesty GEORGE By the Grace of God KING of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, This Map of GREAT BRITAIN is humbly Dedicated & Presented By your Majesties Loyal Subject and Servant, Henry Overton. 1743. The 'GEORGE' and 'KING' are clearly replacements. The original edition, 1708, had 'ANNE' and 'QUEEN'. Above the cartouche there is still a portrait of Anne! with a rose and thistle, perhaps a reminder of the Act of Union 1707 between England and Scotland. On the right of the cartouche is Britannia, crowned, seated on a ball, in an ?ermine robe, with orb and sceptre. Neptune with his trident is in the sea below. There are two flags. The Union Flag, in the contemporary version without the diagonal white cross. And a flag carrying the royal coat of arms, of Anne after the union of 1707. The blazon, roughly:- quarterly 1 and 4. per pale gules three lions regardant or, and or, a lion rampant gules and a half double tressure florey counterflorey 2. azure three fleur de lys or 3. azure a harp or stringed argent. Below is a motto:- SEMPER EADEM
table of symbols	Printed upper right on the South sheet is a foliage cartouche with an:- Explanation [circle, buildings, tower] CITY's. [circle, buildings, tower] SHIRE TWON's. [circle, buildings, tower] Borough Towns which send Members to Parliament. [circle, buildings, tower] Market Towns. [circle] Villages. [cross] Bishopricks [cross, two bars] Archbishopricks. [caduceus?] University's. [double line, figure] Roads & Computed distances. The city and town symbols are sort of graded by size.
orientation compass rose up is N	Aligned on the graticule is a compass rose; star points for cardinal and half cardinal directions, North marked by a fleur de lys, East by a cross. The map is printed with North at the top of the page.
scale lines scale	The map has three scale lines:- A Scale of English Miles in a foliage cartouche. Each is chequered in miles to 5 then at 5 mile intervals, labelled variously in 10s or 5s. English Miles 60 to a Degree having 40 miles = 61.1 mm giving a scale 1 to 1053580, a map scale about:- 1 to 1050000 16.5 miles to 1 inch Measur'd English Miles 69 1/2 to a Degree having 50 miles = 65.0 mm giving a scale 1 to 1237957, a map scale about:- 1 to 1200000 19.5 miles to 1 inch Scotch Miles 50 to a Degree having 35 miles = 63.8 mm giving a scale 1 to 882869, a map scale about:- 1 to 880000 14 miles to 1 inch
lat and long scales lat and long grid	The map has scales for latitude and longitude in the borders; chequered in 5 minute intervals, labelled at 10 minute intervals. The graticule shows that the map is on a conical projection. The prime meridian passes through London, very slightly to the west side. The longitude, Winchester = 1d 22m W which does not agree with the prime meridian awfully well. Crude measurements of the graticule give a shape for Hampshire:- at 50d N 1d longitude = 58.8 mm at 51d N 1d longitude = 60.8 mm 1d latitude = 60.4 mm From which:- ratio longitudes at 50d and 51d N = 1.03 ratio latitude/longitude = 1,53 The figures for a well proportioned map of the county are 1.02 and 1.58; but the projection might be much better for Great Britain as a whole. The map includes from 3d E to 7.5d W, from 50d to 57d N; England and Wales, Scotland and part of Orkney, part of Ireland and an edge of France. The rest of Orkney and the Shetlands are mapped in an inset panel at the top right of the North sheet.
sea area sea plain ships sandbanks	The sea is plain, some areas labelled, eg:- THE BRITISH CHANNEL THE STREIGHTS OF DOVER Spithead Some ships are drawn for decoration; for example a 3 masted ship with 2 gun decks off Cuckmere, and a galley with a square sail off Rye. A few sandbanks are shown as dotted areas, for example at the Thames mouth.
coast line coast shaded headlands	Some headlands are noticed, eg:- Start Pt. The coast is shaded. Some harbours are recognisable but are not much labelled.
coastal defence castles	Some of Hampshire's coastal defences are shown:- Hurst C drawn on a funny little spit jutting out from the shore. And:- Calshot C.
rivers	Rivers are drawn by wiggly lines, maybe labelled, eg:- Itchin R Hampshire has the Stour, Avon, Test, Itchen, northern Wey, and Loddon systems with little detail. The Stour and Avon are drawn wrongly (which may be a help in tracing sources or copies). The Stour is shown running to Christchurch from the west, and the Avon is shown running south through Salisbury to join the Stour well to the west of Christchurch. Both are labelled. A separate unlabelled river is shown running south through Fordingbridge and Ringwood to Cristchurch.
woods trees relief hillocks	There are some tree symbols for woodland and a few hillock symbols for hills. They look to be little more than decoration.
county	County boundaries are dotted lines, tinted on the county side with a colour. The county areas are labelled, eg:- HAMPSHIRE
settlements	Settlements are marked by a circle with added symbols explained in a table on the map, and also differentiated by style of labelling.
city	circle, buildings, and tower; labelled in upright block caps, eg:- WINCHESTER

town	circle, buidings, and tower; boroughs labelled in upright lowercase text, eg:- Andover Stockbridg market towns labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:- Basingstoke Fareham

village	circle; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:- Okely M. Wallop Gosport

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HAMPSHIRE	TOWNS
	The map includes most of the usual 21 towns:-
	Alton
	Andover
	Basingstoke
	Waltham
	Christ Church
	Fareham
	Fordingbridge
	Gosport
	-
	Kingsclare
	Lemington
	Allersford
	Odiham
	Petersfield
	Portsmouth
	Ringwood
	Rumsey
	Southampton
	Stockbridg
	Whitchurch
	Winchester
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ROADS IN	HAMPSHIRE

roads road distances	The map shows main roads by double lines, road distances are given between places.
	The main roads through Hampshire are:-
	from London; ... through Firmley, Surrey; 22 miles to Basingstoke, 10 via Okeley to Whitchurch, 6 to Andover, via M Wallop, Hampshire; 15 miles to Salisbury, Wiltshire; and west to Lands End.

	branch from Basingstoke, 17 miles via Sutton to Stockbridg, Hampshire; 12 to Dunckton, Wiltshire; then Cranborne, and to Poole, Dorset.
	branch from Cranborne to Dorchester and the west.

	branch from Andover, Hampshire; 10 miles to Amesbury, Wiltshire; and west to Barnstaple.

	branch from Firmley, Surrey; 15 miles via Ashe to Farnham, Surrey; 7 to Alton, 8 via Bighton to Allersford, 16 to Southampton, Hampshire.

	branch from Allersford, through Winchester, Rumsey, 14 to Ringwood, Hampshire; 8 to Wimborne, then Poole, Dorset etc.

	branch Wimborne, Dorset; 9 miles to Christ Church, 8 to Lemington, Hampshire.

	from Southampton, through Rumsey, Hampshire; to Salisbury, Wiltshire.

	from London; ... through Godalmin, Surrey; 17 miles to Petersfield, 15 to Portsmouth, Hampshire.

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