Map Features - telegraphs


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In order by date from the Map group (maker year)
NB: typical illustrated examples are described, NOT ALL examples.
absence of evidence is not evidence of absence

Knight 1799
(telegraphs)
Marked by Southsea castle is:-
Telegraph

OS 1810s Old Series
(telegraphs)


Telegraph [ENE of Wickham]
Bramshaw Telegraph
Telegraph [ESE side of Toothill]
Telegraph [on Portsdown N of Cosham]
Telegraph [by Charlton Windmill]

Greenwood 1826
(telegraphs; semaphore telegraphs)
Labelled at the east end of Portsdown is:-
Semaphore
On hengistbury Head there is a:_
Signal House
but this is not part of the telegraph system.

Hall 1833
(telegraphs)
South west of Bramshaw is labelled:-
Telegraph

Moule 1836
(telegraphs)
SW of Bramshaw is:-
Telegraph

Sheringham 1840s-50s
(telegraphs)
Some telegraphs are noticed. There is a:-
Semaphore
on Portsdown above Farlington. And south of the castle, on Calshot Spit is:-


Old Telegraph

Cruchley 1856
(telegraphs)
The map shows telegraphs, closely associated with the railways, by hatching alongside the railway line with telegraph stations marked by hatching around the railway station's dot. These are electric telegraphs. Not all railway stations were telegraph stations. See for example the telegraph running alongside all the London and Southampton line, with telegraph stations at Basingstoke, Winchester, Bishopstoke (better known now as Eastleigh) and Southampton only. Some lines have no telegraph.
See:-


BASINGSTOKE STA
with the telegraph along the LSWR and the Berks and Hants lines, and a telegraph station.
The telegraph from near Brockenhurst Junction to Lymington follows the line of the road not the railway, going to a telegraph station in the town. This line continues independently of railway to Keyhaven and thence to Hurst Castle telegraph station, and across the mouth of The Solent to the Isle of Wight, and by land to an end telegraph station at Cowes.
See:-


at Lymington, and


at Hurst Castle.
The telegraphs mapped are electric telegraphs, the 'two needle' telegraph invented by Cooke and Wheatstone. Railways were probably the best customers for this then new form of communication. See:-

See:-
Wilson, Geoffrey: 1976: Old Telegraphs: Phillimore:: ISBN 0 900592 76 6

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