Nicholas Lane Explained

Nicholas Lane
Birth Place:in or near Cobham, Surrey
Death Date:1644
Resting Place:Kingston upon Thames
Other Names:Nycholaus Lane
Occupation:surveyor and cartographer
Years Active:circa 1613–1640
Employer:Charles I of England

Nicholas Lane (-1644) was an English surveyor and cartographer, active in the early part of the seventeenth century, rising to prominence in his works for King Charles I.

Birth and early life

He was probably born at or near Cobham in Surrey. Contemporary accounts of his age vary considerably, but the circumstance he was apprenticed to Robert Jennings of Kingston upon Thames for seven years from May 1601[1] suggests a birthdate no earlier than 1585. Jennings, a fisherman, was married to Lane's sister Beatrice and, with Lane's younger brother Henry, was lessee of an eyot in the river near Kingston.[2] [3] Knowledge of the Thames would have been useful in some of Nicholas Lane's later assignments, but there is no evidence he fished as an occupation. In legal proceedings he described himself as “yeoman”, versed in the “art of measuring which he often practises”.

Early career

He was professionally active as a surveyor by 1613 when he mapped lands at Painshill which were the subject of a continuing dispute between Robert Bickerstaffe and James Starr, and somewhat later he surveyed the manor of Slyfield in Great Bookham for the purpose of arbitration proceedings arising from its sale by Henry Bretton to George Shiers, apothecary to James I, in 1614. Lane’s deposition in a subsequent Chancery suit reveals that he used the chain and plane table methods in his survey and that his measurements of the Slyfield lands were substantially consistent with those of William Oughtred who had earlier surveyed the property for Shiers and afterwards cooperated with Lane to “perfect” their work.[4] A recent assessment of another of Lane’s maps confirms “overall accuracy of over 99%”.[5]

In the 1620s he worked for John Goode and his son, Sebastian Goode, of Malden. In 1621 he mapped land at Chessington forming part of the manor of Malden, held by John Goode from the Crown but claimed by Merton College, Oxford. Six years later, following compromise of Merton's ejectment action against the Goodes, Lane mapped the whole manor for the son.[6] [7] The area was the subject of a long-running dispute concerning the boundary between the College's land and the Royal estate of Nonsuch Great Park (the part that subsequently became known as Worcester Park). Lane's map of 1627 documents the outcome of litigation in the matter, which was reconfirmed by Charles I in 1633.

Later career

The social status of Lane's clients increased and in the later 1630s he was employed by the Crown in connection with the creation of both Richmond Park and Longford River. His map of the park shows the several courses he surveyed for the perimeter wall and identifies the option ultimately chosen in January 1638.[8] [9] In the same year he was commissioned to plan the scheme whereby water from the River Colne at Longford would be diverted to Hampton Court Palace. The channel he proposed, 19,000 metres in length with an overall fall of 8 metres, was cut in little more than nine months by Edward Manning, the same contractor who had built the Richmond Park wall. From £4,000 spent on the Longford project, Lane was allowed £5 for his work.[10] [11] The new river fed the fountains at Hampton Court and, later, the water features in Bushy Park. The layout of Bushy Park has also been attributed to Lane.[12]

Also in the 1630s Lane had been active for the Crown in the Fens, and his sketches of large tracts of land between Peterborough and Wisbech survive.[13] [14] “Mr Lane's propositions for various works to be constructed in the fen district, co. Lincoln” were costed by Simon Hill, Director of Works in the Fens, in 1636,[15] perhaps indicating that Nicholas Lane had previously devised water management schemes that recommended him for the Longford River assignment. By this time he was supported in his work by his son Nicholas, and in 1637 he took another of his sons, Thomas, as his apprentice.[1] The signatures of both Nicholas senior and junior appear on a map of Putney on which they evidently collaborated in 1636/7.[16]

A 1640 map of lands in Wonersh, commissioned by Viscount Montagu, whose Sussex estates Lane had mapped some years earlier, may be Lane's last known work.[17] [18] [19] A 1642 map of a small part of Horton in Buckinghamshire has been attributed to him but bears what looks more like the signature of his son Nicholas.[20]

He died in 1644 and was buried at Kingston[21] where he had lived in Wood Street and had been a churchwarden.[22] [23]

Legacy

Lane's surviving work provides a valuable resource for historians. For example, Lane's map of Putney, combined with the 1665 hearth tax list, has provided a key source for reconstructing a detailed view of life in the London suburb in the later seventeenth century.[24] In 1787 it furnished information relevant to resolving the disputed boundary between Putney and Wandsworth parishes.[25]

Maps

Lane's maps of the following are known to survive:

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Kingston upon Thames Register of Apprentices 1563-1703 . Ann . Daly . Surrey Record Society. XXVIII . 1974.
  2. Counterpart lease for 21 years. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/e1a22816-2aad-46aa-90c6-f7d61e68556e. Kingston History Centre. Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; Corporation Deeds and Associated Documents. KC1/1/28.
  3. Counterpart lease for 21 years. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/30d0a5f0-e0ae-4723-9a4e-3b5daf6e02f7 . Kingston History Centre. Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; Corporation Deeds and Associated Documents . KC1/1/39.
  4. Henry Bretton v George Sheires . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3121211 . TNA. Records created, acquired, and inherited by Chancery, and also of the Wardrobe, Royal Household, Exchequer and various commissions . C24/439, no. 15, pp. 7–9.
  5. Keith . Bailey . Balham Farm and Nicholas Lane . The Wandsworth Historian . December 1983 . 43 . 1–9.
  6. Sir Henry . Lambert . Some Account of the Surrey Manors held by Merton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in the Seventeenth Century . Surrey Archaeological Collections . 41 . 1933. 34–39 .
  7. Sarah . Bendall . Merton College and the Mapping of its Estates, 1601-1836. Oxoniensia . LXV . 2000 . 86, 105 .
  8. Surrey: Richmond. Map of Richmond Common, Petersham Common and Mortlake Common, with.... https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6019998 . . Records of the successive Works departments, and the Ancient Monuments Boards and Inspectorate . WORK 32/687.
  9. Web site: The Creation of Richmond Park by the Monarchy and early years . The Hearsum Collection. 25 July 2018.
  10. Roll 291 E. Manninge. Cutting a river from Longford to the park at Hampton Court. . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C3576778 . . AO - Records of the Auditors of the Imprest, Commissioners of Audit, Exchequer and Audit Department, National Audit Office and related bodies. . AO 1/2481/291.
  11. Book: Rabbitts, Paul . London's Royal Parks . Shire Publications . 10 February 2014 . 79 . 978-0747813705.
  12. Web site: Parks & Gardens . Nicholas Lane | Parks and Gardens (en). 27 July 2020.
  13. Cambridgeshire; Lincolnshire; Northamptonshire. Map of the Fens in an area between... . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4559378 . . MR 1 16th century-1966 Public Record Office: Maps and plans extracted to rolled storage from various series of records . MR 1/351.
  14. Cambridgeshire: Wisbech. Map of Great Common Fen and its surroundings, showing drains... . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4559318 . . MR 1 16th century-1966 Public Record Office: Maps and plans extracted to rolled storage from various series of records . MR 1/291.
  15. Web site: Charles I - volume 339: Undated 1636. Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Charles I, 1636-7 . John . Bruce . London . Her Majesty's Stationery Office . 1867 . 254–268 . British History Online . entry 31.
  16. The map is reproduced in Vincent B. . Redstone . . . The diary of Sir Thomas Dawes, 1644 . 37 . 1927 . 2 . 505352402. . Also, see External Links below.
  17. The platt of divers tenements and lands leyinge in the parish of One-earsh in the countie of Surrie. Beinge the copiehould belonging unto the Right Honorable the Lord Viscount Mountague his Manor in One-earsh aforesayde. And are destinguyshed and severally shewed by letters for each mans name as in a book belonginge to the said platt it more playnley appeareth. The sum totell beinge 884 acres, 1 rood, 20 perches / Measured and truly platted in Anno Domini 1640 by me N. Lane.. https://idiscover.lib.cam.ac.uk/permalink/f/t9gok8/44CAM_ALMA21574019460003606. . Maps, Manuscripts and Plans . 1640. Maps.Ms.Plans.756. (copy at Photocopy of plan of tenements and lands in Wonersh being copyholds of Viscount Montague. Surveyor: Nicholas Lane. Scale of perches. [Cambridge University Library ref Ms plan 756]. https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_Z_113_1_1_1_2. . . Z/113: Estates in Pyrford, Woking and Wonersh: Maps (c.1630-1708) . Z/113/2 . photocopy.)
  18. Map of land in the Parish of Cocking . http://185.121.204.173/SearchOnline/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=Cowdray%2f1%2f4%2f1626&pos=7 . 1635. . Cowdray - The Cowdray Archives. Cowdray MSS 1626.
  19. Map of land in the Parish of Easebourne . http://185.121.204.173/SearchOnline/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=Cowdray%2f1%2f4%2f1627&pos=3 . . Cowdray - The Cowdray Archives. Cowdray MSS 1627.
  20. A. Lands of Sir Humfrey Tracy, 3rd Bart., in Horton, attached to the manor of Stanwell, co. Midd., by Nicholas Lane; 1642. 0.764 m. x 0.4 19 m.Sir Humphrey Tracy, 3rd Baronet: Plan of lands of, in Horton, co. Bucks.: 1642.Stanwell, Middlesex: Plan of . http://searcharchives.bl.uk/IAMS_VU2:IAMS040-002056734 . British Library. Archives and Manuscripts: Western Manuscripts. Add MS 43737 A.
  21. Kingston upon Thames, All Saints: Parish Records (c.1541-1936) . https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_P33 . . . Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; Parish Records . P33. (Burial entry 13 December 1644)
  22. Kingston upon Thames Rate Book . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/2cc33952-20a5-4517-bb16-58c16168b080 . 27 May 1633 . . Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; Parish Records . KG5/2/1 . 42.
  23. Churchwardens’ Accounts . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/d0d4bee5-b6cd-4a52-8a5e-993e55da05af . . Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames; Parish Records . KG2/2/3.
  24. Heather . Falvey . A review of Dorian Gerhold, 'Putney and Roehampton in 1665: A street directory and guide'. The Local Historian. British Association for Local History . 38 . 4 . November 2008 . 309–310.
  25. Book: Gerhold, Dorian . Putney in 1636, Nicholas Lane's Map . Wandsworth Historical Society. 1994 . 12.
  26. “Pains Hill. A plot of land belonging to certain tenements called Payns-hill and Cobham Bridge-House, parish of Walton upon Thames... measured out at the request of Robert Byckerstaff gent, tenant to one part of it among other things granted unto him from the Kings Highness and Jeames Starr yeoman in whose tenure and also among other his freehold land the other part is”: Surrey History Centre. . The Wotton Estate and Records of the Evelyn Family . SHC 6330/4/2/1. (formerly Evelyn MSS No. 13, Christ Church, Oxford).
  27. Web site: The Roman Religious Sanctuary at 'Blacklands'. The Kent Archaeological Field School . January 2013. 6–7.
  28. Original was held at Croydon Reference Library in 1965; image currently available is at Statfile copy of a plan of Oxdownes [identified as the same property as Stokesheath Farm, Oxshott, 2019] in the parish of Cobham, surveyed by Nicholas Lane at the request of Richard Evelin of Wotton. The plan incorporates text describing lands (not entirely legible). The location can be seen on the North East and North West 6 inch Ordnance Survey sheet XVIII, ranging from Copsen Farm in the west to Barwell Court Wood (now called Sixty Acre Wood) in the east. . https://www.surreyarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_ZS_126_1. Surrey History Centre.
  29. T. E. C. . Walker . The Chase of Hampton Court . Surrey Archaeological Collections . Surrey Archaeological Society . 62 . 1965 . 85 .
  30. Photocopy (undated) of a map showing a tenement at Bayhurst Hall, Little Bayhurst, and woods in Chertsey and Malden, surveyed by Nicholas Lane. https://www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/collections/getrecord/SHCOL_Z_503_18_1 . . . Z/503: Photocopies of items held elsewhere (1086-20th CENT). ZS/503/18/1 . photocopy.
  31. Map, relating to dispute (scale: approx. 297' to 1') . https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=refd E/DCA/257. 1622. . E/DCA:Du Cane Family. E/DCA/257.
  32. The Plot of the Manor of Beckenham with the Demesne Lands Woods Pastures Meadows and Brooks unto the same pertaining ... at the request of Sr. Henry Snellyer measured and plotted ... An. Do. 1623 by Nicholas Lane Supervisor. T. Proudlove transcripsit 1768. A scale of perches, 120[= 73 mm]. http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01004801198. ms copy. 1768 . . Cartographic Items Maps . 188.k.3.(4.).
  33. Keston by Nicholas Lane. https://www.kentarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/GB51_U312_12_1. c.1630. . U312: Lennard Manuscripts (1310-1862). U312/P1.
  34. Plan of manor of West Wickham by Nicholas Lane . https://www.kentarchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/GB51_U908_12_4_1 . c.1632 . . U908: Streatfield Manuscripts (13th century-19th century) . U908/P78.
  35. The description of severall plotts of wood (or copes lands) belonginge to Sr Multon Lambard Kt: Beinge psell of the Manor of Cryalls in the pish of Bransheley in Kent. Measured and plotted ... August the viij 1632. Nicholas Lane descripsitt. The scale of perches: X in ẏ inch. [Endorsed: A Plott of the woodlands belonginge to the Mannor of Brenshleye (at Crialls), etc]. http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01004808902. 1632 . . Cartographic Items Maps . M.T.6.b.2.(7.).
  36. The description and plott of the manor of Dagenham and Cockrels, Delland and Mauland ... leyinge within the Libertie of Haveringe in the parish of Rumford in the countie of Essex And now (at the request of Lawrence Wright Doctor of phisick) taken measured and surveyed in the moneth of Aprill Ao. Do. 1633 per me Nycholaus Lane descrip.. https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=140688. . D/DNe:Neave family of Romford and Prittlewell. Maps.. April 1633. D.DNe P1.
  37. In private hands; contemporary copy at Northamptonshire Record Office, no reference.
  38. The plott of the Manor of Skreens of Teyhalle and of the farmes and lands vnto them same belonginge leyinge and beinge in the severall parishes of Roxwell Shellow & Wyllingalle in the countie of Essex and (at this time) is truly described measured and plotted and by severall cullers destinguysshed ... per N: Lane Surveigher. https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/result_details.aspx?ThisRecordsOffSet=1&id=115622. . D/DGe:Records of a Chelmsford Solicitor. Maps. . July 1635. D/DGe P3.
  39. Original held by the Parochial Church Council of the parish of St Mary the Virgin, Putney.
  40. Process reproduction available at Putney 1636. https://search.lma.gov.uk/scripts/mwimain.dll/144/LMA_OPAC/web_detail?SESSIONSEARCH&exp=refd+SC/PM/MB/01/27/001. London Metropolitan Archives. Special Collections. SC/PM/MB/01/27/001.
  41. Sketch map of part of Laddus Fen, showing Elm Leame. Scale: 1 inch to 62/3 chains in... . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8971006 . . MPE 1619-1959 Maps and plans extracted to flat storage from records of the Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments . MPE 1/570/1.
  42. Sketch map showing 'Wigging Moore', 'Wigging: Sir Oliver Cromell's', 'Abbotts Pingle'... . https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8971007 . . MPE 1619-1959 Maps and plans extracted to flat storage from records of the Office of Land Revenue Records and Enrolments . MPE/570/2.

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