Overton 1708
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| NOTES from OVERTON'S MAP of GREAT BRITAIN, 1708 | ||
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These notes are taken from the map of Great Britain
published by Henry Overton, London, 1708 as edited and
reissued 1743. The item studied is in the Map Room, British
Library, item Maps 177.d.1.
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The map has two sheets, size: wxh, sheet = 61x49 and
61x48cm; wxh, map = 583x933mm. The map is likely to be a
copy of work by Senex and Price.
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| MAP FEATURES | ||
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| map maker |
Printed lower left on the South sheet:-
Advertisement Just Published, A new & exact Map of Great Britain and Ireland from the latest & best Observations, to which are added several Prospects of Towns in each Kingdom (particularly) Edinburgh, Glasgow, St. Andrews, Sterling, &c. &c. the whole printed on two very large Sheets of Paper & coloured: price 1s. Likewise Ogilby's Pocket Map of England, price 1s. and Adams's Do. price 6d. very useful for all that travel. Printed for Henry Overton without Newgate 1745. Printed with the scale lines is:- Sold by Henry Overton at the White Horse without Newgate LONDON |
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title
wreath cartouche dedication coat of arms |
printed upper right on the North sheet in a wreath
cartouche:-
A NEW AND EXACT MAP OF GREAT BRITAIN ACCORDING TO THE LATEST AND BEST OBSERVATIONS. To the Most Serene and Most sacred Majesty GEORGE By the Grace of God KING of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, This Map of GREAT BRITAIN is humbly Dedicated & Presented By your Majesties Loyal Subject and Servant, Henry Overton. 1743. The 'GEORGE' and 'KING' are clearly replacements. The original edition, 1708, had 'ANNE' and 'QUEEN'. Above the cartouche there is still a portrait of Anne! with a rose and thistle, perhaps a reminder of the Act of Union 1707 between England and Scotland. On the right of the cartouche is Britannia, crowned, seated on a ball, in an ?ermine robe, with orb and sceptre. Neptune with his trident is in the sea below. There are two flags. The Union Flag, in the contemporary version without the diagonal white cross. And a flag carrying the royal coat of arms, of Anne after the union of 1707. The blazon, roughly:- quarterly 1 and 4. per pale gules three lions regardant or, and or, a lion rampant gules and a half double tressure florey counterflorey 2. azure three fleur de lys or 3. azure a harp or stringed argent. Below is a motto:- SEMPER EADEM |
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| table of symbols |
Printed upper right on the South sheet is a foliage
cartouche with an:-
Explanation [circle, buildings, tower] CITY's. [circle, buildings, tower] SHIRE TWON's. [circle, buildings, tower] Borough Towns which send Members to Parliament. [circle, buildings, tower] Market Towns. [circle] Villages. [cross] Bishopricks [cross, two bars] Archbishopricks. [caduceus?] University's. [double line, figure] Roads & Computed distances. The city and town symbols are sort of graded by size. |
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orientation
compass rose up is N |
Aligned on the graticule is a compass rose; star points
for cardinal and half cardinal directions, North marked by a
fleur de lys, East by a cross. The map is printed with North
at the top of the page.
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scale lines
scale |
The map has three scale lines:-
A Scale of English Miles in a foliage cartouche. Each is chequered in miles to 5 then at 5 mile intervals, labelled variously in 10s or 5s. English Miles 60 to a Degree having 40 miles = 61.1 mm giving a scale 1 to 1053580, a map scale about:- 1 to 1050000 17 miles to 1 inch Measur'd English Miles 69 1/2 to a Degree having 50 miles = 65.0 mm giving a scale 1 to 1237957, a map scale about:- 1 to 1200000 20 miles to 1 inch Scotch Miles 50 to a Degree having 35 miles = 63.8 mm giving a scale 1 to 882869, a map scale about:- 1 to 880000 14 miles to 1 inch |
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lat and long
lat and long scales lat and long grid |
The map has scales for latitude and longitude in the
borders; chequered in 5 minute intervals, labelled at 10
minute intervals. The graticule shows that the map is on a
conical projection. The prime meridian passes through
London, very slightly to the west side. The
The map includes from 3d E to 7.5d W, from 50d to 57d N; England and Wales, Scotland and part of Orkney, part of Ireland and an edge of France. The rest of Orkney and the Shetlands are mapped in an inset panel at the top right of the North sheet. |
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sea area
sea plain ships sandbanks |
The sea is plain, some areas labelled, eg:-
THE BRITISH CHANNEL THE STREIGHTS OF DOVER Spithead Some ships are drawn for decoration; for example a 3 masted ship with 2 gun decks off Cuckmere, and a galley with a square sail off Rye. A few sandbanks are shown as dotted areas, for example at the Thames mouth. |
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coast line
coast shaded headlands |
Some headlands are noticed, eg:-
Start Pt. The coast is shaded. Some harbours are recognisable but are not much labelled. |
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| rivers |
Rivers are drawn by wiggly lines, maybe labelled,
eg:-
Itchin R Hampshire has the Stour, Avon, Test, Itchen, northern Wey, and Loddon systems with little detail. The Stour and Avon are drawn wrongly (which may be a help in tracing sources or copies). The Stour is shown running to Christchurch from the west, and the Avon is shown running south through Salisbury to join the Stour well to the west of Christchurch. Both are labelled. A separate unlabelled river is shown running south through Fordingbridge and Ringwood to Cristchurch. |
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woods
trees relief hillocks |
There are some tree symbols for woodland and a few
hillock symbols for hills. They look to be little more than
decoration.
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| county |
County boundaries are dotted lines, tinted on the county
side with a colour. The county areas are labelled, eg:-
HAMPSHIRE |
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| settlements |
Settlements are marked by a circle with added symbols
explained in a table on the map, and also differentiated by
style of labelling.
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| city |
circle, buildings, and tower; labelled in upright block
caps, eg:-
WINCHESTER |
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| town |
circle, buidings, and tower; boroughs labelled in upright
lowercase text, eg:-
Andover market towns labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:- Basingstoke |
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| village |
circle; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
M. Wallop Gosport |
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roads
road distances |
The map shows main roads by double lines, road distances
are given between places.
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