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History of Britain in Maps
From Mappa Mundi to modern election maps, the United Kingdom has evolved rapidly, along with the ways in which it has been mapped. In this time, cartography has not only kept pace with these changes, but has often driven them. In this beautiful book, 100 maps give a visual representation of the history of Britain.
Every map tells a story and this book tells the incredible history of Britain through maps, and includes many famous examples of cartography, along with some that deserve to be better known. See the establishment of Great Britain, the British Empire expand, the impact of World Wars and the latest statistical mapping.
Maps include
• Rudge Cup (schematic map of western forts on Hadrian’s Wall), 2nd century AD
• Matthew Paris map of the Anglian Heptarchy (Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms), c. 1250
• Gough map of Britain, 1360
• Cambriae Typus, first published map of Wales, 1573
• Raven maps of the Ulster Plantations, 1622
• Enclosure map (eg of Norfolk, c. 1800)
• Booth Poverty Map of London, 1886
• Map of Beeching cuts to Britain’s railways, 1963
• Map of EU Referendum voting patterns, 2016
Every map tells a story and this book tells the incredible history of Britain through maps, and includes many famous examples of cartography, along with some that deserve to be better known. See the establishment of Great Britain, the British Empire expand, the impact of World Wars and the latest statistical mapping.
Maps include
• Rudge Cup (schematic map of western forts on Hadrian’s Wall), 2nd century AD
• Matthew Paris map of the Anglian Heptarchy (Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms), c. 1250
• Gough map of Britain, 1360
• Cambriae Typus, first published map of Wales, 1573
• Raven maps of the Ulster Plantations, 1622
• Enclosure map (eg of Norfolk, c. 1800)
• Booth Poverty Map of London, 1886
• Map of Beeching cuts to Britain’s railways, 1963
• Map of EU Referendum voting patterns, 2016
256 pages, Hardcover
Published February 1, 2018
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121 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 12, 2020
A nicely done book. A large hardback on pretty good paper. Each map has it’s own page, or sometimes a detail in EXTREME CLOSE-UP with a double page spread of the whole thing overleaf. The reproductions seem to be the best available. There’s everything from pre-Roman trackways to EU referendum voting patterns, so as of 2020 all we’re missing is a Covid outbreak map. There’s the famous ones you’d expect to see like the Mappa Mundi and Beck’s Tube map mixed with some really obscure stuff that must be known only to specialists.
Particularly interesting for me was the Ambleside flood. This appears to be a screenshot from Magic, a GIS I used a lot when I did mapping for Defra. My favourite though must be the Post Roads. It reminds me of a pre-Beck Tube map I once saw where there was still some attempt to match actual geography. It’s well worth having a look at areas familiar to you. So Billericay (‘Billrecay’ here) is virtually a coastal town as there are no stops between there and Gravesend. And Newcastle Upon Tyne appears twice. Once on the Great North Road (with a branch line to Tynemouth, here shown inland) and again on the Coast Road for a separate route up to Berwick. Clever stuff.
Each map has a page of text that tells you a little about the map, the milieu in which it was produced and a little relevant narrative history. The book is perhaps designed to be browsed so it was only when I read it cover to cover that I realised the history is disjointed and sometimes repetitive. The text has been spell checked but not proofread and there are numerous instances of words being actual words, but not the right ones. Also, not everything is factually accurate. On page 246 we are told that “Daniel Defoe, the satirist and author of Gulliver’s Travels, was moved”. I’m sure he was. Many have been, but none more so that Jonathan Swift. Those problems aside, it’s the text which gives context and makes this into a book rather than a collection of pictures.
A good present for someone who likes maps.
Particularly interesting for me was the Ambleside flood. This appears to be a screenshot from Magic, a GIS I used a lot when I did mapping for Defra. My favourite though must be the Post Roads. It reminds me of a pre-Beck Tube map I once saw where there was still some attempt to match actual geography. It’s well worth having a look at areas familiar to you. So Billericay (‘Billrecay’ here) is virtually a coastal town as there are no stops between there and Gravesend. And Newcastle Upon Tyne appears twice. Once on the Great North Road (with a branch line to Tynemouth, here shown inland) and again on the Coast Road for a separate route up to Berwick. Clever stuff.
Each map has a page of text that tells you a little about the map, the milieu in which it was produced and a little relevant narrative history. The book is perhaps designed to be browsed so it was only when I read it cover to cover that I realised the history is disjointed and sometimes repetitive. The text has been spell checked but not proofread and there are numerous instances of words being actual words, but not the right ones. Also, not everything is factually accurate. On page 246 we are told that “Daniel Defoe, the satirist and author of Gulliver’s Travels, was moved”. I’m sure he was. Many have been, but none more so that Jonathan Swift. Those problems aside, it’s the text which gives context and makes this into a book rather than a collection of pictures.
A good present for someone who likes maps.
October 19, 2018
Superb book. My husband got me this for my birthday after I dropped some subtle hints (like emailing him the link). It is everything I hoped it would be. Often times the maps tell us more about the maker than the land that is mapped. Presented in roughly chronological order we start in anglo saxon times. Some maps are beautiful - perhaps more decorative than useful, some are packed with information, for travellers or kings, others are full of drama, The Battle of Mussleburgh map of 1547 is one such notable highlight. War, industry, land reform, population growth and polictical upheaval are all reflected in maps of the time. There are maps of hope and of human tragady. There is the London Cholera Map that enabled doctor John Snow to identify and shut down the pump at the centre of the outbreak. Especially poignant is the beautifully optimistic : 'Great Britan, her natural and industrial resources' , that is also featured on the front cover of the book. Produced in the midst of the 2nd world war it is followed by German Target maps and a map of the damage done by the London Blitz. The map of the Beeching cuts to the railway service is one of the simplest in the book. A black line shows the tracks upon which trains would no longer run, a cold clear illustration of communities isolated by the stroke of a pen, it packs an emotional punch. At the end of the book we come right upto date with the suprisingly beautiful North Sea oil map and the European Union Referendum Voting Map.
This is a fabulous book. There are large well printed and clear illustrations (have a magnifying glass to hand for some of them).
Buy it for someone you love who likes history or maps or both. You won't be sorry.
This is a fabulous book. There are large well printed and clear illustrations (have a magnifying glass to hand for some of them).
Buy it for someone you love who likes history or maps or both. You won't be sorry.
May 17, 2020
This was a really interesting idea for a book and should have been good. My score reflects both the issues and my disappointment.
To start with, although this is a coffee table sort of book it isn't really big enough to reproduce almost all of these maps at a scale that does them justice. You are therefore left squinting at them, trying to see what they are trying to show you. The text sometimes tells you a bit about the map and who made it and how it came to be made, but quite often it does seem to veer off and give you some potted Janet & John style history. The author appears to have gleaned his knowledge from a conservative history primer of about 50 years ago. I'd have assumed that someone picking up this book would already have an interest in and basic understanding of British history. If you don't, well the myriad errors in this are only going to confuse you further - I got so annoyed that I got my pencil out to correct the mistakes which are pretty elementary and there are, to be blunt, far too many of them (Parker tries to convince us that Mary II was the daughter of Charles II and that Adela was the sister, instead of the daughter, of William the Conqueror - basic, easily check-able facts!). If you are going to publish a book like this, at least do your readers the courtesy of some basic factual accuracy. Also, pretending you know what happened to the so-called "Princes in the Tower" is a sure far way for you to get out of your depth and put many backs up!
To start with, although this is a coffee table sort of book it isn't really big enough to reproduce almost all of these maps at a scale that does them justice. You are therefore left squinting at them, trying to see what they are trying to show you. The text sometimes tells you a bit about the map and who made it and how it came to be made, but quite often it does seem to veer off and give you some potted Janet & John style history. The author appears to have gleaned his knowledge from a conservative history primer of about 50 years ago. I'd have assumed that someone picking up this book would already have an interest in and basic understanding of British history. If you don't, well the myriad errors in this are only going to confuse you further - I got so annoyed that I got my pencil out to correct the mistakes which are pretty elementary and there are, to be blunt, far too many of them (Parker tries to convince us that Mary II was the daughter of Charles II and that Adela was the sister, instead of the daughter, of William the Conqueror - basic, easily check-able facts!). If you are going to publish a book like this, at least do your readers the courtesy of some basic factual accuracy. Also, pretending you know what happened to the so-called "Princes in the Tower" is a sure far way for you to get out of your depth and put many backs up!
November 16, 2021
As someone who loves old maps and history I thought this book was a sure-fire win but overall it is quite disappointing. I think it was written to be picked up and flicked through, rather than read in its entirety. The reason is that the history and facts given are repeated constantly, sometimes even on the following page. It gives the feeling that Parker assumed people would open up a page that looked interesting, read the text and move on. For someone reading everything, the repetition is laborious and detracts from your enjoyment.
The narrative itself is also disappointing because it is so often disconnected from the maps shown. Mostly there is a general discussion of the contemporary political situation with only a short paragraph on why the map was drafted and on occasion, there seems to be no link to the text and the map. The latter section of the book improves on this, perhaps just more information is available on the 'modern' maps, but that does not redeem the earlier pages.
The other issue is the book would be more accurately called, a History of London in Maps given the majority of the maps are of the capital. There are a few of other areas but much less so in the second half of the book and as such there is just less history told about these places (and even the sections that do look at Scotland or Ireland, the narrative often repeats itself).
The narrative itself is also disappointing because it is so often disconnected from the maps shown. Mostly there is a general discussion of the contemporary political situation with only a short paragraph on why the map was drafted and on occasion, there seems to be no link to the text and the map. The latter section of the book improves on this, perhaps just more information is available on the 'modern' maps, but that does not redeem the earlier pages.
The other issue is the book would be more accurately called, a History of London in Maps given the majority of the maps are of the capital. There are a few of other areas but much less so in the second half of the book and as such there is just less history told about these places (and even the sections that do look at Scotland or Ireland, the narrative often repeats itself).
May 11, 2020
I do love my history when accompanied with a map - a fact I must have repeated often as this book was bought for me as a present.
The book is arranged, in the main, with a page of text opposite a full page map relevant to the text, all in chronological order, making it a perfect book for reading little & often. The text itself had a refreshing social & national emphasis, rather than concentrating on 'big characters' which made even the familiar episodes interesting to re-visit, as did the inclusion of less well known figures (such as the map makers themselves).
The text did contain several errors that should have been picked up at the editing stage, but what really would have promoted this book to 5 stars was greater resolution for the maps - the combination of old writing styles and spellings with less than clear resolution for the older maps in particular made it hard to pick out details at times.
The book is arranged, in the main, with a page of text opposite a full page map relevant to the text, all in chronological order, making it a perfect book for reading little & often. The text itself had a refreshing social & national emphasis, rather than concentrating on 'big characters' which made even the familiar episodes interesting to re-visit, as did the inclusion of less well known figures (such as the map makers themselves).
The text did contain several errors that should have been picked up at the editing stage, but what really would have promoted this book to 5 stars was greater resolution for the maps - the combination of old writing styles and spellings with less than clear resolution for the older maps in particular made it hard to pick out details at times.
December 3, 2020
Was a Christmas present. Each of the 90 or so maps is reproduced with a page of text to give historical context, stretching from roads in Roman times to the Brexit vote spread. Some of the maps are then given a more detailed two-page spread. Even so, I resorted to using a magnifying glass to catch the details for some. As each page of text stands alone there is some repetition in the contextual descriptions, which can grate if you read several pages at once and the maps cover a similar era. Nevertheless, I learnt a lot about British history and how we see our land as one country (or not) and the challenges faced by each generation.
December 14, 2018
A fascinating collection of maps that show the history of Britain. Some are small maps that might seem irrelevant, like field systems in the time of the Reformation, but which arise out of major developments in the nation. Others cover major events from a different perspective, e.g. Germans maps of proposals for Operation Sea Lion and the invasion of southern Britain.
June 8, 2023
This book is a lovely, large-format hardback, and the maps themselves are reproduced in glorious detail.
But the text is rather disappointing. I would have liked a description / commentary on the map, set into its historical context. But instead, far too often, we’re given a page of repetitive school-textbook history, with little or no reference to the map itself.
But the text is rather disappointing. I would have liked a description / commentary on the map, set into its historical context. But instead, far too often, we’re given a page of repetitive school-textbook history, with little or no reference to the map itself.
January 1, 2018
A fabulously rich, enjoyable and interesting read and perusal of our history through British maps. A perfect coffee table book to flick through, but works just as well being read from beginning to ends. Also covers some interesting parts of our history rather than just a chronological view.
November 5, 2018
Beautiful book, has many colorful maps. Not that big and relatively light, isn't hard to carry. The paper isn't glossy, which is good if you want to read under intense light. But sometimes the color is a bit dull and blurry. That combined with font style of bygone eras make the map hard to read. I couldn't figure out what's what and gave me a headache (shame!). Perhaps, I should buy a magnifying glass and learn how to read calligraphy. But the content itself is good and informative. It includes not only London but other regions as well.
July 19, 2019
The maps are glorious, but the text, badly in need of a decent editor, is too often incidental.
February 8, 2020
Fascinating book with high quality reproductions of scores of maps from antiquity to the EU referendum in 2016.
January 8, 2022
Okay as far as it goes but it's really just a well illustrated introduction to the beauty and scope of it's subject. Recommend for beginners.
July 21, 2025
As a map-lover, I enjoyed thumbing the pages and looking at the well-curated collection. The historical explanations to accompany each map were an interesting read too.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews