Research Notes


Map Group POST OFFICE 1823
Post Office 1823
The Post Office Circulation Map of England and Wales was published in 1823. The map has only been seen as an illustration in a book:-
Beaton, David: 2001: Dorset Maps: Dovecote Press (Stanbridge, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 4JD):: ISBN 1 874336 79 2
The illustration shows part of the map, which is damaged. The sheet sections are badly dogeared at their corners. The reproduction is not good enough to see every word clearly. The notes below are focused on Hampshire.
MAP FEATURES
HAMPSHIRE POST ROADS
MAP FEATURES
orientation    
up is N    
The map has north at the top of the sheets.

county    
The map is of England and wales. County boundaries are dotted lines; counties are not labelled.

settlements    
Settlements on mail coach routes are shown. They are positioned by a circle and distinguished from each other by the style of lettering of their names. It may be that the labelling style is governed by postal factors, otherwise it seems that:-
city     labelled in italic block caps, eg:-
WINCHESTER
The capital 'LONDON' is in upright block caps.

town     labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Andover
village     labelled in smaller italic lowercase text, eg:-
Botley
Kingsclere
road distances    
Distances from place to place along the roads are marked in arabic numerals, eg:-
10
between Alton and Alresford.
Outside restricted Penny Post regions, like metropolitan London, the charges for delivery depended on distance. A single letter up to 15 miles was 4d (old pence, about 2 new pence), then there was a sliding scale for longer distances.
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HAMPSHIRE POST ROADS
roads    
post roads    
Only mail coach and other post routes are drawn. There are 23 mail coach routes radiating out of London, numbered in roman numerals from I for the Essex road to Yarmouth, anticlockwise to XXIII.
The principal routes that concern Hampshire are XVIII, XIX and XX. Other main routes, cross routes, involving Hampshire are passing through Salisbury to beyond Chichester, and running south through the tip of Hampshire near Shipton Bellinger.
A number of minor routes are also drawn.
Route diagram:-

The main mail coach roads in Hampshire are:-
XVIII - from London; through Staines, Middlesex; Bagshot, Surrey; then Blackwater, Hartford Bridge, Basingstoke, Overton, Whitchurch, Andover, Wallop, Hampshire; to Salisbury, Wiltshire; on to Exeter and Plymouth, Devon.
XIX - from London; through Bagshot, Surrey; across a corner of Hampshire; through Farnham, Surrey; then Alton, Alresford, Winchester, Southampton, Redbridge, Stony Cross, Ringwood, Hampshire; to Wimborne and Poole, Dorset.
XX - from London; through Guildford and Godalming, Surrey; then Liphook, Petersfield, Horndean, Cosham, to Portsmouth, Hampshire.
cross route - through Salisbury, Wiltshire; then Romsey, Southampton, Fareham, Cosham, Havant, Emsworth, Hampshire; and beyond Chichester, West Sussex.
cross route - from Ramsbury, across the Great London Bath road, Wiltshire south through a corner of Hampshire; missing Salisbury, Wiltshire; to the coast of Dorset near Lulworth?
 
The reproduced map is not good enough to make out the minor routes, which might have been served by foot messengers or on horseback.
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