The population of Britain in 1675 was 5 million and there were no cars or lorries on the roads, just the odd horse, or horse and carriage or horse and cart.
Today, the population for Britain is 61 million and there are over 26 million cars, which are able to travel on over 29,000 miles of roads and over 2000 miles of motorways (but, per capita, Britain has less vehicles and less roads and motorways than almost every other country in Europe).
But despite this, there was still a road atlas about in 1675, showing roads in England and Wales (in 1675, England and Wales were unified as one nation, but Scotland and Ireland hadn't yet joined the Union). The Britannia Volume The First Or An Illustration Of The Kingdom Of England And Dominion Of Wales is expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction next Thursday. The atlas depicts 7,500 miles of roads throughout Britain, but they were in such poor condition that travelling from London in the south of England to Newcastle in the north of England, a distance of almost 249 miles while the crow flies, could take two week.
The atlas was created by John Ogilby and it set the standard for those atlases that followed (for example, in the use of one inch to a mile, taking into consideration the fact that a mile is 1,760 yards and a yard is 36 inches).
Showing just 73 highways at one inch per mile, England's first road map - printed in 1675
25th October 2009
Daily Mail
Showing a network of just 73 major highways, this is the first ever road map of Britain – printed in 1675.
The atlas depicts 7,500 miles of road and shows how their condition was so poor, it would have taken more than two weeks to travel from Newcastle to London.
Britannia Volume The First Or An Illustration Of The Kingdom Of England And Dominion Of Wales is expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction next Thursday.
History route: The first national road atlas of the UK is going under the hammer
The 1675 atlas outlines how to get to Manchester
Experts hailed the 17th-century work by John Ogilby, which contains 100 double pages of routes split into parallel vertical strips, a ‘landmark’ in road-mapping.
Enlarge
Charles Ashton, an auctioneer at Cheffins Fine Art, Cambridge, said: ‘What's unusual about this book is that it is complete.
‘This is one of the original printing batch from 1675 and there are probably about 100 out there across the world - mostly in university and library collections.
‘From the outside it looks like nothing - the plain board cover is quite beaten up and unornamented, not elaborate at all – you would never guess how special this book is.
‘But once you open it, its full glory is revealed. It doesn't look much like a modern road map.
‘It set a new standard for map making in England as the first attempt at a serious road map in England.’
The road map, which has been in the same family for generations, was the first time in England an atlas was prepared on a uniform scale, at one inch to a mile, based on the statute of 1,760 yards to the mile.
Ogilby claimed that 26,600 miles of roads were surveyed in the course of preparing the atlas, but only about 7,500 were actually depicted in print.
Oxford University’s Dr George Garnett said: ‘The roads would have been pools of mud. The stone that Romans used to build roads had been removed for building houses.
‘It meant people travelled little unless they had to. Newcastle to London could take weeks.’
Auctioneer Charles Ashton with the first national road atlas
City links: How London's roads looked in 1675. At the time, London's population was only about 400,000, but it was still England's largest city by far
All roads lead to Coventry: How the city name was spelt in the 17th century
The small village of St Neots, Bedfordshire
The road to Cambridge is one of the 73 highways mentioned in the first national road atlas
dailymail.co.uk
Today, the population for Britain is 61 million and there are over 26 million cars, which are able to travel on over 29,000 miles of roads and over 2000 miles of motorways (but, per capita, Britain has less vehicles and less roads and motorways than almost every other country in Europe).
But despite this, there was still a road atlas about in 1675, showing roads in England and Wales (in 1675, England and Wales were unified as one nation, but Scotland and Ireland hadn't yet joined the Union). The Britannia Volume The First Or An Illustration Of The Kingdom Of England And Dominion Of Wales is expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction next Thursday. The atlas depicts 7,500 miles of roads throughout Britain, but they were in such poor condition that travelling from London in the south of England to Newcastle in the north of England, a distance of almost 249 miles while the crow flies, could take two week.
The atlas was created by John Ogilby and it set the standard for those atlases that followed (for example, in the use of one inch to a mile, taking into consideration the fact that a mile is 1,760 yards and a yard is 36 inches).
Showing just 73 highways at one inch per mile, England's first road map - printed in 1675
25th October 2009
Daily Mail
Showing a network of just 73 major highways, this is the first ever road map of Britain – printed in 1675.
The atlas depicts 7,500 miles of road and shows how their condition was so poor, it would have taken more than two weeks to travel from Newcastle to London.
Britannia Volume The First Or An Illustration Of The Kingdom Of England And Dominion Of Wales is expected to fetch up to £9,000 at auction next Thursday.
History route: The first national road atlas of the UK is going under the hammer
The 1675 atlas outlines how to get to Manchester
Experts hailed the 17th-century work by John Ogilby, which contains 100 double pages of routes split into parallel vertical strips, a ‘landmark’ in road-mapping.
Enlarge
Charles Ashton, an auctioneer at Cheffins Fine Art, Cambridge, said: ‘What's unusual about this book is that it is complete.
‘This is one of the original printing batch from 1675 and there are probably about 100 out there across the world - mostly in university and library collections.
‘From the outside it looks like nothing - the plain board cover is quite beaten up and unornamented, not elaborate at all – you would never guess how special this book is.
‘But once you open it, its full glory is revealed. It doesn't look much like a modern road map.
‘It set a new standard for map making in England as the first attempt at a serious road map in England.’
The road map, which has been in the same family for generations, was the first time in England an atlas was prepared on a uniform scale, at one inch to a mile, based on the statute of 1,760 yards to the mile.
Ogilby claimed that 26,600 miles of roads were surveyed in the course of preparing the atlas, but only about 7,500 were actually depicted in print.
Oxford University’s Dr George Garnett said: ‘The roads would have been pools of mud. The stone that Romans used to build roads had been removed for building houses.
‘It meant people travelled little unless they had to. Newcastle to London could take weeks.’
Auctioneer Charles Ashton with the first national road atlas
City links: How London's roads looked in 1675. At the time, London's population was only about 400,000, but it was still England's largest city by far
All roads lead to Coventry: How the city name was spelt in the 17th century
The small village of St Neots, Bedfordshire
The road to Cambridge is one of the 73 highways mentioned in the first national road atlas
dailymail.co.uk
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