Old Hampshire Mapped
Introduction
Ogilby's Hampshire 1675The maps studied are in the Map Collection of Hampshire CC Museums Service:-
from London; through Brentford and Staines, Middlesex; Bagshot, Surrey; Blackwater, Hartfordbridge, Basingstoke, Whitchurch, to Andover, Hampshire.
(item HMCMS:FA1991.5)
from Andover, through Middle Wallop, to the Wiltshire border, Hampshire; then Salisbury, Wiltshire; to Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Dorset; and Yeovil to Crookhorn, Somerset.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.174)
from London; through Kingston on Thames, Guildford and Godalming, Surrey; then Liphook, Hampshire; across a corner of West Sussex; then Petersfield, Horndean, and Cosham to Portsmouth, Hampshire.
(item HMCMS:FA1997.8)
from Andover, to the Wiltshire border, Hampshire; then Amesbury, Shrewton, Warminster, Wiltshire; and Bruton to Bridgewater, Somerset.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.172)
from Guildford to Godalming, Surrey; through Midhurst to Chichester, West Sussex; and from Midhurst, West Sussex; to Petersfield and Winchester, Hampshire.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.166)
from Bagshot, Surrey; across a corner of Hampshire; to Farnham, Surrey; then to Alton, Alresford, Twyford to Southampton, Hampshire; and from Southampton to Romsey, Hampshire; and on to Salisbury, Wiltshire.
(item HMCMS:KD1996.7)
from Basingstoke to Sutton Scotney, Stockbridge, and the Wiltshire border by East Dean, Hampshire; through Downton, Wiltshire; to Cranborne, Wimborn, Blandford, and Dorchester to Weymouth, Dorset.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.1)
from Oxford, Oxfordshire; through Abingdon, East Ilsley and Newbury, Berkshire; then Kingsclere, Basingstoke, Alton and Petersfield, Hampshire; to Chichester, West Sussex.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.2)
from Oxford, Oxfordshire; through Abingdon, Great Shelford, Berkshire; touch Wiltshire; then Hungerford, Berkshire; on to North Tidworth, Wiltshire; across a corner of Hampshire at South Tidworth; through Salisbury, Wiltshire; then Cranborne and Wimborn Minster to Poole, Dorset.
(item HMCMS:FA1998.173)
from Alresford to Winchester, Romsey and Ringwood, Hampshire; then to Poole, Dorset; and from Poole, Dorset; then Christchurch to Lymington, Hampshire; and from Southampton to Winchester, Hampshire.
(item HMCMS:FA1997.3)
The idea of an itinerary, a route map, was not new; there are some very early examples. A roman military road map dating from about the mid 6th century AD is made in this form. It is now known as the Peutinger map, named for its 16th century discoverer. Other examples are the itinerary maps drawn by Matthew Paris of St Albans about 1250. Ogilby's maps, 400 years later, are a rebirth for the idea.
A strip map is a process map, a diagram of how to go from one place to another; route and destinations are predetermined. Ordinary maps are state maps describing the whole countryside; the user decides where to go from wherever he is.
John Ogilby put forward proposals for a world atlas in five volumes 10 May 1669. Volume 5 titled 'Britannia' was to contain:-
the Business of Great Britain, or our English MonarchyThis was planned in three parts; the roads of England and Wales, plans and descriptions of 25 towns, and a county atlas with descriptions. Volume 5 was begun after volumes on Africa and America, but before the volumes for Asia and Europe. Of the comprehensive plan only the road atlas and plans of London and Westminster were achieved. A Royal Warrant of 24 August 1671 authorised John Ogilby, Royal Cosmographer, to make the necessary surveys and enquiries, with access to public records.
Ogilby issued sets of 'Queries' to provide some standard approach to the data gathering for his county mapping. Hooke, Aubrey and Wren, Fellows of the Royal Society, were involved in framing these questions to support the county atlas.
QUERIES in Order to the Description ofThe road measurements were carried out by various surveyors including Richard Shortgrave and Gregory King, and were completed for publication of the road book in 1675. The stricter measurement of the roads was a real advance in cartography in Great Britain. The 10 Ogilby maps studied together here are probably the first road map of Hampshire.
BRITANNIA
1 OF the County in general.
2 The several Hundreds, parishes, Villages and Hamlets.
3 Peculiars or Privileg'd Places
4 Cities, Towns Corporate, Market-Towns and Fair-Towns
5 Houses of Nobility and Gentry.
6 Castles, Churches, Chappels, Monasteries, Hospitals, Schools, Colleges.
7 Mills, Beacons, Bridges, Mountains.
8 Chaces, Forrests, Woods, Groves, Parks, Warrens, Commons, Heaths.
9 Valleys, Rivers, Brooks, Meres, Ponds.
10 Places were Battles have been, Lodgdes in Forrests, &c.
11 Works and Mines of Salt, Lead, Tin, Iron, Coal, Lime, Alabaster, Marble, Free-Stone, Grindstone, Millstone, Silver, Gold, Copper.
12 Waters, Springs and Baths, Cold or Hot, Medicinal, Bituminous Petrifying, &c.
13 Precincts of Diocesses.
14 What Part of the Countrey is Arrable, Pasture, Meadow.
15 Roman Ways and Stations, Coyns and Monuments, &c.
16 Accidents, Calamities or Casualties.
17 Improvements in Husbandry, Housewifery.
18 Peculiar Customs or Manners of the Countrey.
19 Places of Birth, Education or habitation of Eminent persons, in all Ages.
[20 ]
Of these, or any of them; Information is desir'd in Writing, either upon certain Knowledge, or other good Authority, directing each Remark to the Number relating to it, and annexing thereto the County and Hundred wherein the remark falls.
Rec~d in a letter from Mr. John Aubrey from Lond. 18. June 1673 [ ]
From about 1676 Ogilby's roads were added to other county mapping. For example Robert Morden's playing card maps, 1676, include roads and tables of distances from London; Morden:-
The latitude of the Cheife Citty or Town, and its Distance from London, First the Reputed and then the Measured Miles, by Esqr: Ogilby with his leave we have Incerted, there is also the Road from London to each Citty or Towne, the great Roads are drawn with a double line, the other Roads a single line ...Morden's map of 1695 uses the Ogilby roads and is an early county map of Hampshire with roads.
Another example is Phillip Lea's reworked Saxton's map of Hampshire, 1689, which included roads from Ogilby's Britannia.
Hampshire by C: Saxton. Corected & many Additions by P: Lea.This also has additional town symbols; crosses on market towns, crowns for parliamentary boroughs, mitres for bishopricks.
Ogilby's maps were reproduced, sometimes amended, by several publishers in the early-mid 18th century; Gardner 1719, Senex 1719, and Bowen 1720, onwards. These new versions were more practical pocket size road books. It is hard to imagine the traveller, unless in a coach, using Ogilby's superb maps.
This study concentrates upon what can be seen from the maps; studies of the background of mapping in England, and map makers have been published elsewhere.
