British Town Maps: A History

Synopsis

Towns Are Complex And Sophisticated Creations. Mapping Towns Stretched Cartographers' Ingenuity To New Heights Of Both Artistic Beauty And Scientific Exactitude As They Strove To Represent And Communicate The Physical Patterns Of Streets, Buildings And Spaces; The 'above Ground' And The 'below Ground'; The Built Structures And The Economy; The Lives Of Those Who Live Or Work There; And The Unseen Realities Of Land Ownership, Administration, Religion And Politics. These Maps Served A Variety Of Purposes, From Guiding Travellers, Assisting With Administration And Government, Raising Taxes, Planning The Built Environment, Organising Its Defence - And Much, Much More. Some Of The Maps In This Book Are Well Known, Others Have Languished In Obscurity, Deep In Archives, Until Revealed By The Ten Years' Work Of A British Academy Research Project On Which This Book Is Founded. Lavishly Illustrated In Colour, It Tells The Story Of The Mapping Of Urban Britain From The Late Middle Ages Until Modern Times. The Text Is Accompanied By A Comprehensive Index Of Town Maps Which Have Been Catalogued On An Open-access Electronic Resource. 1.defining A Town -- 2.defining A Town Map -- 3.town Maps For General And Specific Purposes -- 4.making And Printing Town Maps : Engraving, Lithography And Zincography, Printing In Colour, Photography In Map Reproduction -- 5.maps That Survive, Maps That Are Lost -- 6.earliest Town Maps -- 7.the `remapping' Of British Towns -- 8.towns As Property : Estate Maps, Enclosure Maps, Rating Maps And Tithe Maps -- 9.maps Of Towns In Works Of Reference -- 10.maps Of Towns In Directories -- 11.street Maps -- 12.street Atlases -- 13.maps Of Towns In Tourist Guidebooks -- 14.mapping Towns For Military Purposes -- 15.the Board Of Ordnance And The Origins Of The Ordnance Survey -- 16.mapping Town Boundaries -- 17.sanitation Maps And Ordnance Survey Town Plans -- 18.the Apogee Of Ordnance Survey Town Mapping -- 19.fire Insurance Maps -- 20.maps For Town Planning -- Notes And References -- Index To Online Catalogue Of British Town Maps -- Cbtm Online Catalogue -- List Of Towns In The Online Catalogue, The Number Of Maps Catalogued For Each Town, And The Range Of Dates Covered By The Maps Of Each Town. Roger J. P. Kain & Richard R. Oliver. A British Academy Research Project. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes.