Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey

433 Pages·2010·8.46 MB·English

by  Rachel Hewitt

More praise for Map of a Nation:

‘In this endlessly absorbing history, Rachel Hewitt narrates the history of our
printed maps from King George II’s “Scotophobic” cartographies to the three-
dimensional computerised elevations of today … In her lively and informative
narrative, Hewitt highlights the Ordnance project’s legion of draughtsmen,
surveyors, dreamers and eccentrics’ Ian Thomson, Observer

‘Hewitt tackles the subject exuberantly … the book won me over. The sweep of
its history … has true grandeur, and the incidentals of the tale are like desirables
found in a cluttered antique shop’ Jan Morris, The Times

‘This is a solid account of how Britain’s national mapping agency came into
being … she is good on the military, scientific and ideological impulses behind
the OS and on its enormous appeal to the general public’ Ian Pindar, Guardian

‘[A] sparkling biography of the Ordnance Survey and the people who made
Britain a cartographic leader’ Sunday Times

‘[An] extremely handsome and scholarly account of the genesis of the OS map
… I shall raise a pint to Rachel Hewitt and her band of map-makers’ Tom Fort,
Sunday Telegraph

‘[A] diligent and very detailed book … she has done justice to a neglected
subject and to neglected but worthy men’ Daily Mail

‘A remarkable story of human endeavour in the name of Enlightenment values’
Metro
‘[A] fascinating account of British cartography … In a compelling overview,
Hewitt discusses how developments in scientific thinking, technological
advances and an important dose of Anglo-French collaboration eventually led, in
1870, to the creation of the Ordnance Survey’s First Series, a landmark as
significant as The Oxford English Dictionary in shaping how the country thought
about itself and its “physical and intellectual” landscapes’ Lady

‘An exhaustively detailed study of the life and times of Ordnance Survey maps
… there are frequent nuggets of enjoyably recondite information’ Literary
Review

‘A fascinating narrative … illuminates the process by which our nation redrew
itself over a century’ The Times ‘Books of the Year’

‘Hewitt’s tale of cartography is pacy and – like the best historical writing –
focused on human endeavour rather than dry facts’ Yorkshire Evening Post

‘A lively, well-written and carefully researched evocation of how the landscapes
of Britain (and Ireland) came to be revealed with such dramatic precision’ Irish
Times
‘A celebration of the OS … While the account is sensitive to the military and
governmental demands placed on the OS, the focus is on human endeavour and
achievement, driven by the characters who ran the show’ Independent

‘This award-winning history of the OS in its early days reveals the chaps behind
the maps’ Boyd Tonkin, Independent i

‘This book, which is exquisitely produced as well as being an absorbing read, is
bound to increase the enjoyment for anyone who loves unfolding those vast OS
sheets and imagining all the green hills and the dark mountains looming upwards
out of them’ Mail on Sunday

‘The success of this extraordinary work is down to the exhaustive research and
accessible style of Rachel Hewitt … Hewitt tells the intriguing story of the map
and the men who created it’ Caravan Club

‘Hewitt does a terrific job of recounting the trials and tribulations of the doughty
surveyors and the methods they employed … we should all be proud of the
Ordnance Survey and Hewitt is to be commended for telling its tale with such
elegance and enthusiasm’ Geographical

‘Throughout Map of a Nation, Hewitt combines a sharp eye for the telling detail
… with a firm grasp of the wider implications of local events … One of Hewitt’s
achievements in this detailed, lively and very entertaining history is to clarify
how the military aspect was only one motive for the mapping project … an
impressive array of historical, geographical and technical information in vivid,
readable form’ Times Literary Supplement

‘This book is a real achievement. Its account of the development of one of the
nation’s vital geographical tools, the Ordnance Survey, is a powerful
contribution to historical knowledge. But it is much more than a work of
impressive scholarship, though it is certainly that. Rachel Hewitt has also
produced a compelling story of scientific achievement, written in an arresting
style, which will appeal to a wide readership. This is historical writing of a high
order’ Tom Devine, author of The Scottish Nation

‘Fascinating … Rachel Hewitt possesses the rare gift of being able to bring her
subject to life. Her vivid rendition of the story of the mapping of Britain is not
only a fitting and timely tribute to the unsung heroes of the early days of the
Ordnance Survey; it is also a lively, absorbing, informative read that will hold
the reader’s attention from start to finish’ Jeremy Harwood, author of To the
Ends of the Earth: 100 Maps that Changed the World

‘The creation of the charming one-inch OS maps, with their lovely contours and
homely symbols, was not a stroll in the countryside. The heroic efforts and
scientific ingenuity that went in to mapping Britain are recounted in Rachel
Hewitt’s lively history which gives colour and context to an epic story’ Gavin
Weightman, author of The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Creation of the
Modern World 1776–1914

For Pete
Contents

Title Page
Dedication
List of Illustrations

Prologue: Lost and Found
1 ‘A Magnificent Military Sketch’
2 ‘The Propriety of Making a General Military Map of
England’
3 The French Connection
4 The Aristocrat and the Revolution
5 Theodolites and Triangles
6 The First Map
7 ‘A Wild and Most Arduous Service’
8 Mapping the Imagination
9 The French Disconnection
10 ‘Ensign of Empire’
11 ‘All the Rhymes and Rags of History’
12 ‘A Great National Survey’
Epilogue: Maps of Freedom

Notes
Works Cited
Acknowledgements
Illustration Credits
Index
Copyright
List of Illustrations

PLATE SECTION

Between pp. 228 and 229

A. Portrait of General David Watson
B. Portrait of Robert Dundas
C. John Speed’s 1611 map of Britain and Ireland
D. A Meeting of the Board of Ordnance, late 1740s
E. Paul Sandby’s plans of Moidart and Mull, 1748
F. Paul Sandby, A View Near Loch Rannoch, 1749
G. A detail from William Roy’s Military Survey of Scotland
H. George Cruickshank, The Antiquarian Society
I. Portrait of Joseph Banks
J. Portrait of Nevil Maskelyne
K. Portrait of Jesse Ramsden
L. Portrait of Isaac Dalby
M. Detail from Yeakell and Gardner’s 1778 map of Sussex
N. James Walker Tucker, Hiking, 1936
O. The area around the Isle of Dogs, on the Ordnance Survey’s first map
P. Views from an early hot-air balloon
Q. Robert Dawson, Cader Idris, 1816
R. Portrait of William Wordsworth
S. Portrait of John O’Donovan
T. A 1780 ‘Map of England’ sampler
U. A board game from the late 1780s, based on a map of England and Wales
V. William Blake’s Newton
W. A detail from the 1833 map of Londonderry