button to main menu Saxton 1579

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MAP FEATURES

title cartouche
strapwork cartouche
map maker
engraver
Printed upper left is a strapwork cartouche decorated with apples and ?pears, hanging foliage, and two snails:-
snip from map image
WESTMORLANDIAE et Cumberlandiae Comit~ nova Vera et Elaborata descriptio. Ano. Dn~i. 1576.
Printed lower left:-
CHRISTOPHORUS SAXTON DESCRIPSIT
Printed under the scale line, lower left:-
AUGUSTINUS RYTHER ANGLUS SCULPSIT ANo DN~I 1576

coat of arms snip from map image
Printed upper right is the royal coat of arms of
Elizabeth Regina
quarterly 1 and 4 azure three fleur de lys or 2 and 3 gules three lions passant guardant or
The supporters are a lion and a dragon, the latter for the welsh house of tudor. There is a crown above and below the motto:-
DIEU ET MON DROYT
Around the shield is the garter with its motto:-
HONY SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE
Printed lower right is the coat of arms of Thomas Seckford with his motto:-
Industria Naturam Ornat
ie:-
hard work improves on nature

orientation
labelled borders
up is N
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The map has a picture frame border in which there are panels labelling directions, in Latin:-
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SEPTENTRIO
ORIENS
MERIDIES
OCCIDENS
ie North, East, South, West. The map is printed with North at the top of the sheet.

scale line
dividers
scale
Printed lower left is a:-
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Scala Miliarium
marked and labelled in miles with half mile subdivisions. The 10 miles = 65.4 mm gives a scale 1 to 246077 wrongly assuming a statute mile. Using an Old English Mile = 1.25 statute miles, the map scale is about:-
1 to 300000
5 miles to 1 inch
Above the scale line is a pair of dividers with a pretty tudor rose at the pivot. The pernickety might notice that the lines of the dividers' inner edges do not go through its pivot, and the dividers would not close properly to a zero measurement.

sea area
sea pecked
sea monsters
ships
fishermen
The sea area is pecked, and tinted with a blue wash, and simply labelled:-
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OCEANUS
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In the sea are a couple of monstrous fishes and a number of sailing ships. The ships include three, two and one masted square rigged sailing vessels.
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There are also two fishing boats with their single sail furled on its yard which is laid along the boat from stem to stern posts. Over the side of each boat is a fishing net being handled by two fishermen.

button  Detail notes by Ian Friel

coast line
coast shaded
headlands
harbours
foreshore
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The coast line is shaded for emphasis, and tinted blue. The foreshore in the Solway Firth, and in what parts of the sands to the south which happen to be shown, are drawn in outline, the area pecked. The river channels are drawn boldly through these sands.
On headland is labelled:-
Sct bees head
(There may be a colon for the abbreviation, but the dots might just be pecking.)
And one harbour is labelled:-
Derwenfoot haven
at Workington.

rivers
bridges
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Rivers are drawn from the coast in a tapering double line with form lines, some rivers are labelled, eg:-
Eden flu:
Lune flu:
Cauda flu:
and some tributaries are drawn. Notice the tributaries of the River Lyne, Christopher Saxton's 'Leven', in the north of the county. The tributaries are the White Lyne and Black Lyne; Christopher Saxton calls them the Black Leven and White Leven respectively. One theory of black white pairs of this sort is that they simply imply the one and the other, so which way round is unimportant!
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Roads are not shown in the map, but a number of bridges are marked by a double line crossing and interrupting the stream. For example, over the Eamont and Lowther south of Penrith. A few bridges are labelled, eg:-
New Bridge [Newby Bridge]
Levens Bridge

lakes
islands
Lakes are drawn in outline, the area pecked, and shore shaded. The larger lakes are labelled, some as if they were just broad parts of a river, eg:-
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Ulles flu:
Loweswater
Thurlemyer
Brode Water
Darwen flu:
Wynandermere flu:
An island in Derwent Water is labelled:-
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Darwen Insul:
It is not always easy to identify other lakes, their connectivity and positions are confused (or my local knowledge is still weak?) See, for example, the four lakes in the Buttermere area.

relief
hillocks
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Relief is shown by hillocks, shaded on the east, tinted brown. Compared with the hillocks used in more southerly counties, the hillocks here are mountainous, giant size ugly lumps. A generous eye will see a concentration of mountains in the central lakes area and another along the Pennines, but the overall impression is not seriously informative.
Some hills are labelled, eg:-
Skiddow hill
Fournes fells
Helvillon hill
Farleton knot hill
Morton pike
A group of hills on the Northumberland border are labelled:-
Cristonbury cragg
The gele crag
The horse head
The spy cragg

beacons A hillock NNE of Penrith with a small ?tower on top is perhaps Beacon Hill.
A hillock NE of Orton has a small ?tower on top, with ?flames.
SW of Ireby is:-
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Mewtoobecon
and on the hillock is a post with three rungs for climbing to the fire basket on top.

woods
forests
trees
Tree symbols, tinted green, decorate some parks, but are also used in groups to indicate woodland. Most woods are unnamed, but notice:-
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Medohushe wood
Barren wood p~k [NW of Kirkoswald]
Forest areas may not have tree symbols (forest does not imply trees) but might be labelled, eg:-
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Mallerstange forest
Inglewood forest
Copeland forest
Whinfeld forest

parks Parks are drawn in outline by a ring of fence palings, the interior usually with some trees and perhaps a building. Some parks are labelled, eg:-
Camswick p~k
using the letter p with a bar on its descender, abbreviation for par. Or the park might be named by its house, eg:-
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Hartley cast:
Notice the large park west of Penrith, including two villages and a castle:-
Lamonbye
Johnbye
Graystock cast:
and a splendid stag in the woods.
Ussay p~k [NW of Broughton in Furness]
is labelled, but has no fence etc.

county
swash lettering
country
boundary stones
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County boundaries are a dotted line, continued alongside a feature like a river where this happens. The inner side of each county boundary has a tint for the county: Westmorland pink, Cumberland green, Lancashire pink, Yorkshire yellow, Durham green, Northumberland pink. The colours are faded; in particular the pinks for Westmorland and Lancashire, which adjoin, look almost the same, but maybe not. The two county areas of the map are labelled:-
WESTMORELANDIA
CUMBERLANDIA
The adjacent counties are labelled in fine swash lettering, eg:-
LANCASTRIAE PARS
EBORACENSIS PARS
NORTHUMBRIAE PARS
DUNELMENSIS EPISCOPATUS
Notice that the map colouring is wrong on the eastern border. The Tees flu: is the boundary of Yorkshire and Durham, and has been missed, making the contact between Durham and the Cumbrian counties much longer than it should be.
The northern boundary is a country border, to the north being:-
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SCOTIAE PARS
A large hillock at the meet of Westmorland, Cumberland and Lancashire is labelled:-
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Shirestones upon wrenose
and at the meet of Westmorland, Lancashire and Yorkshire, NE of Kirkby Lonsdale, is a hillock with a large stone on top labelled:-
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The countye stone
Some settlements, hills and rivers are shown outside the two counties of the map. In particular the Pennines are continued down the eastern borders, and the fells continued into Lancashire north of the sands.

settlements Settlements are marked by a dot and circle with buildings and/or towers, tinted red which hides some detail, further differentiated by style of labelling. Allocating settlement classes to the symbols is not certain.
  cities
  towns
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dot and circle, group of buildings, towers; labelled in italic block caps, eg:-
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KENDAL
CARLISLE
BRAMPTON
  villages snip from map image
dot and circle, building with tower, ie a church; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
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Ambleside
Shapp
Paterdale
  hamlets snip from map image
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dot and circle, building; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
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Sleddale [Longsleddale]
Barnside [Burneside]
Mylnthorpe
  houses snip from map image
dot and circle, tower; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
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Grarigg hall
Dalemain
Sizerghe
Arneside toure
A great house at this period might be the centre of a cluster of dwellings, what looks like a hamlet today.
  castles snip from map image
dot and circle, pair of towers; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
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Kendall cast:
Brougham cast:
Pendragon cast:

miscellaneous

peat mosses On the Solway Firth an area north of Milnehill between the Sark and Esk rivers is labelled:-
Sollome mosse
presumably a peat moss.

mines On the hills north of Mosedale there are several black diamond shapes, labelled:-
snip from map image
The mynes

antiquities
roman sites
roman wall
A dashed line runs across the map from Boulnesse, past Glason, Drumburgh castle, Burgh [by Sands], Kirkanders, Grinsdale, Carlisle, up the Bruscarth river, then by Waleton, Burdoswold, Wall towne, and eastwards. It is labelled:-
THE WALL OF THE PICTES
ie Hadrian's Wall.

stones A drawing of two or three stones standing on the Westmorland Cumberland border in the pass between Grasmere and Thirlmere is labelled:-
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Dunbalrase stones
ie Dunmail Raise.
Boundary stones are noted under 'county'.

crosses Crosses are drawn on two hilltops. One on a hill east of the spittle on stainmore. The other labelled:-
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Holomill crosse
NE of Pendragon Castle.


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