Britannia (atlas) explained

Britannia is the title of each of three atlases created in England the late 16th and mid 18th centuries, describing some or all of the British Isles. These are the books published by William Camden (in 1586, reprinted 1693) and Richard Blome (in 1673) and John Ogilby (in 1675). Of the three, Ogilby's is probably best known because it was the first to use measured distances.

Camden's Britannia

In 1577, William Camden (1551–1623) began his great work Britannia, a topographical and historical survey of all of Great Britain and Ireland. His stated intention was to "restore antiquity to Britaine, and Britain to his antiquity".[1] The first edition, written in Latin, was published in 1586. It proved very popular, and ran through five further Latin editions, of 1587, 1590, 1594, 1600 and 1607, each greatly enlarged from its predecessor in both textual content and illustrations.[2] [3] The 1607 edition included for the first time a full set of English county maps, based on the surveys of Christopher Saxton and John Norden, and engraved by William Kip and William Hole (who also engraved the fine frontispiece). The first English-language edition, translated by Philemon Holland, appeared in 1610, again with some additional content supplied by Camden.[4]

Britannia is a county-by-county description of Great Britain and Ireland. It is a work of chorography: a study that relates landscape, geography, antiquarianism, and history. Rather than write a history, Camden wanted to describe in detail the Great Britain of his time, and to show how the traces of the past could be discerned in the existing landscape. By this method, he produced the first coherent picture of Roman Britain.

Blome's Britannia

Richard Blome (1635-1705) published his Britannia, or a Geographical Description of the Kingdom of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1673.

Ogilby's Britannia

In 1675, John Ogilby (16001676) issued his Britannia (also Latin: Itinerarium Angliæ), a road atlas depicting in strip form of most of the major routes in England and Wales. The atlas included such details as the configurations of hills, bridges, ferries and the relative size of towns. One hundred strip road maps are shown, accompanied by a double-sided page of text giving additional advice for the map's use, notes on the towns shown and the alternative pronunciations of their name. Another innovation was Ogilby's scale of one inch to the mile (1:63360). These are marked and numbered on each map, the miles further being divided into furlongs.[5] At that period, the measurement of many minor roads had used a locally defined mile rather than the standard mile of 1760 standard yards which Ogilby adopted in his atlas, thus setting the standard for road maps in future.[6]

The most obvious omission from Ogilby's atlas is the route to Liverpool.[7]

The volume includes a panoramic frontispiece plate that includes a surveyor's wheel being used to measure distances.

Editions

It appears that two editions were released, one tinted and one monochrome, under different titles. The tinted edition was calledand the monochrome edition was

The book was sold at £5 (the equivalent of about £ in 2019), was in a large format, and weighed about .[8]

Successors

A version of the book, "The traveller's guide or, a most exact description of the roads of England", in a smaller format and without any maps, was published in 1699 by Abel Swall.[9]

Ogilby's Britannia inspired and provided the model for Britannia Depicta or Ogilby improv'd published by Emanuel Bowen and John Owen in 1720.[10]

List of the 100 strip maps

The preface to the atlas gives a list ("catalogue") of the maps it contains:

  1. (City of) London, Acton, Uxbridge, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Tetsworth, Oxford, Islip
  2. Islip, Moreton-in-Marsh, Broadway, Pershore, Bromyard, Worcester
      1. Bromyard, Leominster, Presteign, Aberystwyth London, Ewell, Dorking, Billingshurst, Amberley, Arundel, Chichester London, Waltham, Hoddesdon, Ware, Royston, Huntingdon, Stilton
  3. Stilton, Stamford, Grantham, Newark, Tuxford
  4. Tuxford, Doncaster, Wentbridge, Tadcaster, York
  5. York, Boroughbridge, Northallerton, Darlington, Durham, Chester-le-Street
    1. Chester-le-Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick, Belford, Berwick London, Hounslow, Maidenhead, Reading, Newbury, Hungerford, Marlborough
  6. Marlborough, Calne, Chippenham, Bristol, Axbridge, Huntspill
  7. London, Acton, Uxbridge, Amersham, Aylesbury, Buckingham, Banbury
  8. Banbury, Stratford, Bromsgrove, Kidderminster, Bridgnorth
  9. London, Brentford, Hounslow, Colnbrook, Slough, Maidenhead, Abingdon
  10. Abingdon, Faringdon, Fairford, Barnsley, Gloucester, Monmouth
  11. Monmouth, Newport, Cardiff, Cowbridge, Aberavon, Burton
  12. Burton, Kidwelly, Haverfordwest, St Davids
  13. London, Southwark, Rochester, Canterbury, Dover
  14. London, Romford, Brentford, Chelmsford, Colchester, Harwich
  15. London, Farningham, Maidstone, Ashford, Hythe
  16. London, High Barnet, St Albans, Dunstable, Stony Stratford, Towcester
  17. Towcester, Daventry, Coventry, Lichfield
  18. Lichfield, Rugeley, Stone, Stableford, Nantwich, Tarporley, Chester
  19. Chester, Denbigh, Conway, Beaumaris, Holyhead
  20. London, Hounslow, Staines, Basingstoke, Andover
  21. Andover, Salisbury, Shaftsbury, Sherborne, Crewkerne
  22. Crewkerne, Honiton, Exeter, Ashburton, Plymouth
  23. Plymouth, Fowey, Tregony, Penzance, Land's End
  24. London, Croydon, East Grinstead, Lewes, Newhaven, Brighton, Shoreham
  25. London, Wandsworth, Cobham, Godalming, Petersfield, Portsmouth
  26. London, Bromley, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Rye
  27. Andover, Warminster, Bruton, Bridgwater
  28. Bridgwater, Dulverton, Barnstaple, Torrington, Hatherleigh
  29. Hatherleigh, Camelford, Padstow, St Columb, Truro
  30. Chippenham, Bath, Wells, Marlborough, Devizes, Trowbridge, Wells
  31. Stilton, Peterborough, Spalding, Boston, Sleaford, Lincoln
  32. Darleston, Brewerton, Warrington, Wigan, Preston, Garstang
  33. Garstang, Lancaster, Bolton, Kendal, Penrith, Carlisle
  34. Guildford, Midhurst, Chichester, Midhurst, Petersfield, Winchester
  35. Stony Stratford, Northampton, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Derby
  36. Temsford, Stilton, Peterborough, Market Deeping, Sleaford, Lincoln
  37. Lincoln, Redbourne, Brigg, Barton, Hull, Beverley, Flamborough
  38. Puckeridge, Cambridge, Ely, Downham, King's Lynn
  39. Four Shire Stone, Chipping Campden, Worcester, Ludlow, Montgomery
  40. High Barnet, Hatfield, Baldock, Biggleswade, St Neots, Oakham
  41. Puckeridge, Newmarket, Thetford, Attleborough, Windham, Norwich
  42. St Albans, Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Oakham
  43. Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Nottingham, Mansfield, Rotherham, Barnsley
  44. Barnsley, Halifax, Skipton, Middleham, Richmond
  45. Meriden, Birmingham, Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, Welshpool
  46. Bagshot, Farnham, Alton, Alresford, Southampton, Romsey, Salisbury
  47. Newmarket, Swaffham, Wells; plus Newmarket, Bury St Edmunds
  48. Basingstoke, Stockbridge, Cranborne, Blandford, Dorchester, Weymouth
  49. Colchester, Ipswich, Saxmundham, Beccles, Yarmouth
  50. Bristol, Chipping Sodbury, Tetbury, Cirencester, Burford, South Newington, Banbury
  51. Bristol, Chepstow, Monmouth, Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow
  52. Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Whitchurch, Chester
  53. Bristol, Wells, Glastonbury, Taunton, Exeter
  54. Bristol, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Worcester
  55. Bristol, Wells, Crewkerne, Frampton, Weymouth
  56. Cambridge, St Neots, Northampton, Rugby, Coventry
  57. Carlisle, Jedburgh, Kelso, Berwick
  58. Chester, Wrexham, Newtown, Llanbadarn Fynydd ("Vunneth Llanbader"); thence to Cardiff.
  59. Llanbadarn Fynydd ("Llanbader Vunneth"), Brecon ("Breckknock"), Cardiff
  60. Dartmouth, Exeter, Tiverton, Minehead
  61. St Davids, Fishguard, Cardigan, Talybont
  62. Talybont, Bala, Ruthin, Holywell
  63. Exeter, Chulmleigh, Ilfracombe, Bideford, Torrington
  64. Exeter, Tavistock, Liskeard, Truro
  65. Gloucester, Cheltenham, Chipping Campden, Warwick, Coventry
  66. Gloucester, Ross-on-Wye, Hereford, Knighton, Montgomery
  67. Hereford, Worcester, Droitwich, Bromsgrove, Coventry, Leicester
  68. Huntingdon, Ely, Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich
  69. Ipswich, Thwaite, Norwich, Cromer
  70. King's Lynn, Thetford, Stowmarket, Harwich
  71. King's Lynn, Gayton, Billingford, Norwich, Yarmouth
    1. Monmouth, Abergavenny, Brecon, Lampeter Nottingham, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Grimsby
  72. Oxford, Faringdon, Malmesbury, Bristol
  73. Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Cambridge
  74. Oxford, Newbury, Basingstoke, Petersfield, Chichester
  75. Oxford, Banbury, Coventry, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Derby
  76. Oxford, Hungerford, Salisbury, Cranborne, Poole
  77. Presteign, Builth Wells, Llandovery, Carmarthen
  78. Salisbury, Marlborough, Lechlade, Chipping Campden
  79. Tynemouth, Newcastle, Hexham, Haltwhistle, Carlisle
  80. Welshpool, Dolgellau, Caernarvon
  81. York, Ripley, Skipton, Settle, Lancaster
  82. York, Leeds, Rochdale, Manchester, Warrington
  83. Warrington, Chester, Manchester, Stockport, Derby
  84. Carmarthen, Cardigan, Lampeter, Aberystwyth
  85. Chelmsford, Sudbury, Bury St Edmunds
  86. Chelmsford, Maldon, Rayleigh, Ingatestone, Billericay, Gravesend, Dover
  87. Exeter, Colyford, Lyme Regis, Bridport, Dorchester, Plymouth, Dartmouth
  88. Ferrybridge, Boroughbridge, Ripon, Barnard Castle; plus Ferrybridge to Wakefield
  89. Kendal, Ambleside, Cockermouth, Egremont, Cockermouth, Carlisle
  90. Alresford, Winchester, Poole, Christchurch, Southampton, Winchester
  91. Shrewsbury, Wrexham, Holywell, Chester, Flint, Holywell
  92. Whitby, Guisborough, Stockton, Durham, Sunderland, Tynemouth
  93. York, Pickering, Whitby, New Malton, Sherburn, Scarborough

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Camden, William . Philemon . Holland . Philemon Holland . Britain, or a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland, and the Ilands adjoyning, out of the depth of Antiquitie . The Author to the Reader . London . 1610 .
  2. F. J. . Levy . The Making of Camden's Britannia . Bibliothèque d'humanisme et Renaissance . 26 . 1964 . 70–97 .
  3. Book: Piggott, Stuart . Stuart Piggott . Ruins in a Landscape: essays in antiquarianism . 1976 . Edinburgh . Edinburgh University Press . 33–53 . William Camden and the Britannia . 0852243030 . https://archive.org/details/ruinsinlandscape00pigg/page/33 .
  4. Oliver D. . Harris . William Camden, Philemon Holland and the 1610 translation of Britannia . . 95 . 2015 . 279–303 . 10.1017/s0003581515000189. 163181232 .
  5. Web site: The First Road Maps: John Ogilby . The Revolutionary Players . September 2015 . West Midlands History Ltd..
  6. Book: Meredith Donaldson Clark . 'Now Through You Made Public for Everyone', John Ogilby's Britannia . Making Space Public in Early Modern Europe: Performance, Geography, Privacy . Taylor & Francis . 2013 . 129-30 . Angela . Vanhaelen . Joseph P. . Ward . 9781135104672.
  7. Book: Ereira, Alan . The nine lives of John Ogilby : Britain's master map maker and his secrets . Alan Ereira . Duckworth . London . 2019 . 9780715652268 . 1113456435 . 270271.
  8. Book: Cartographies of Travel and Navigation . James R. . Ackerman . Chicago . 2006 . 51 . University of Chicago Press . 9780226010786.
  9. Book: Swall, Abel . The traveller's guide or, a most exact description of the roads of England . London . 1699 .
  10. Book: Bowen, Emanuel . . Tho: Bowles print & map seller . London . 1720 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Britannia (atlas)".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.