Research Notes


Map Group WALTON 1679
Walton 1679

'New Map Containing all the Cities ... in England and Wales' with roads and distances, by Robert Walton and Robert Morden, London, 1679. The map studied is in the Map Room, British Library, item Maps C.45.f.3(33).
The map size is: wxh, sheet = 53x62cm; wxh, map = 509x586mm.
NB remember that these notes are strongly biased towards a Hampshire interest.
 
MAP FEATURES
HAMPSHIRE ROADS
HAMPSHIRE TOWNS
MAP FEATURES
title    
decorative cartouche    
Printed upper right is a decorative cartouche; Mercury with his caduceus, perhaps Athene, a globe, pallet and brushes, books, Neptune with his trident, horses, fruit and foliage ...
A New Map Containing all the Cities, Market Townes, Rivers, Bridges, & other co~siderable places in ENGLAND and WALES. Wherein are delineated ye Roads from Towne to Towne, & ye Number of ye reputed miles between them, are given by inspection without Scale or Compas. There is also an Alphabetical table of the Towns shewing in which County each place is in, and how many miles from London &c. most usefull for all Travellors.
Sold by Rob: Walton at ye Globe in St. Pauls Churchyard. & by Rob: Morden at ye Atlas in Corn-hill LONDON.
coat of arms    
dedication    
map maker    
Printed upper left is the royal coat of arms of the Stuarts, with supporters and mottoes.
Printed lower left is a dedication:-
Viro Perillustri Duo IOSEPHO WILLIAMSON EQUITI AURATO Serenissimo CAROLO IIo Mag. Britan. Fran. & Hibern. REGI A Consiliis Secretoribus, et a Secretis Status, nec non SOCIETATIS REGALIS LONDINENSIS PRAESIDI. HANC TABULAM Regiarum Viarum Indicem Humillime Consecrat R. Walton & R. Morden
with a coat of arms (argent three trefoils ?, a chevron engrailed sable ??).
Joseph Williamson was president of the Royal Society, London, 1677-1680.

table of symbols    
Printed left central is:-
The Explanation of this Map
The double lines thus [double lines, solid solid] represent ye Post Roads
The double lines thus [double lines, solid dotted] other Great Roads
The single line thus [single line, solid] the small Roads
The figures give ye distance between Town and Town as from London to Higate 4. from Higate to Barnet 6. &c.
[circle, building, tower] This mark signifies a Market Towne
[circle] This a small Town.
orientation    
compass rose    
up is N    
There are three compass roses on the map, in sea around the island. They have star points for cardinal, half cardinal, false and by points. There are rhumb lines across sea areas; solid for all except the by point directions which are dotted. The map is printed with North at top of the sheet.

scale    
The map has no scale line. It is possible to estimate from measuring distances between a few towns.
London - Bristol = 158.6 mm (174.1Km)
London - Plymouth = 282.2 mm (312.1Km)
The scales calculated from these figures are about 1 to 1100000
London - Lincoln = 158.2 mm (193.9Km)
and about 1 to 1200000. A little E-W stretch in early maps is not unusual. The map scale is perhaps about:-
1 to 1100000
18 miles to 1 inch

lat and long scales    
The map has scales of latitude and longitude in the borders for a trapezoid projection; chequered at 5 minute intervals, labelled at 1 degree intervals. The prime meridian goes through the middle of London, perhaps a little to the west. The
longitude, Winchester = 1d 20m W
The map includes from 2d 0m E to 6d 30m W, from 50d 10m to 56d 15m N; England and Wales, part of Scotland, edges of Ireland and France. The scales were measured to get an idea of the shape of Hampshire.
at 50d N 1d longitude = 61.3 mm
at 51d N 1d longitude = 60.0 mm
1d latitude = 93.9 mm
thus:-
ratio of longitudes at 50d and 51d = 1.02
ratio latitude.longitude = 1.55
which are fairly close to the required values, 1.02 and 1.58, for Hampshire to be 'square'.

sea area    
sea plain    
The sea are is plain. The main sea areas are labelled, eg:-
THE CHANNEL
coast line    
coast shaded    
harbours    
The coast line is shaded for emphasis. Some harbours can be recognised, but are not labelled.

coastal defence    
castles    
Two of Hampshire's coastal defence castles are shown:-
Hurst C
Calshot C
Hurst is drawn on a tentative spit of land drawn from the coast ?west of its true position. This style of marking this spit is seen on other maps: two almost parallel lines drawn southward into the sea area, closed by a circle at the end.

rivers    
bridges    
Rivers are drawn by wiggly lines. Most of the main Hampshire river systems are shown. Some bridges are clearly drawn by a double line across a river. There are Hampshire examples at Ports Bridge and at Fareham where the southerly crossing is shown, the northerly crossing is just implied by a single line road across the river.

county    
County boundaries are dotted lines. The county areas are labelled, eg:-
HANT SH.
settlements    
Settlements are marked by a dot and/or circle differentiated by additional symbols and style of lettering.
city     dot, circle, buildings, towers, perhaps a cross; labelled in upright lowercase text. eg:-
Winchester
The cross indicates a cathedral? Salisbury and Winchester have one, Chichester does not.

town     circle, tower; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Andover
Farham
Southampton has buildings as well as the tower.

village     circle; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Hartley Row
Overton

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HAMPSHIRE ROADS
roads    
post roads    
road distances    
A network of post roads, other great roads, and small roads is shown by double and single lines as explained in the table of symbols. Notice the use of a dotted+solid double line to denote the 'other' great roads - this symbol more often indicates a fenced/unfenced road.

This map is an early derivative of the large straight line distance map by Robert Adams, 1677. Adams made his own reduced, two sheet, map in 1679. The cartouches used by Adams round place names, and circles round distances, are not copied, making a lot more space available for data and producing a more readable map. Rodney Shirley notes that the distances are often different from the Adams distances, and suggests that Walton and Morden used other sources, such as Ogilby 1675, and Morden's map 1678.

Hampshire Great Roads
The post roads in Hampshire are:-
post road: from London; ... Bagshot, Surrey; 8 miles to Hartley Row, 9 to Basingstoke, 8 to Overton, 3 to Whitchurch, 6 to Andover, Hampshire; 16 miles to Salisbury, Wiltshire; and west to Lands End.
post road: Alton, 10 miles to Alersford, 8 to Winchester, 12 to Southampton, Hampshire.
post road: Alton, 10 miles to Petersfield, 14 via Ports Br to Portsmouth, Hampshire.
The two Alton roads are not joined up to London or anywhere else by post or other great roads.
 
There are no 'other' great roads in the county, though there are other small roads.
 
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HAMPSHIRE TOWNS
The map shows most of the 'usual' 21 Hampshire towns:-
Alton
Andover
Basingstoke
Bush Waltham
Christchurch
Farham
Fording B.
- (though a road goes to Gosport)
Havant
Kingscleer
Lymington
Alersford
Odiam
Petersfield
Portsmouth
Ringwood
Rumsey
Southampton
Stockbridg
Whitchurch
Winchester
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