Britain's First Road Maps: The Strip-Maps of John Ogilby's Britannia, 1675

Abstract

Britannia, published in 1675, was the first road atlas of England and Wales. Its strip-maps provide a detailed, surveyed record of 7,500 miles of road and roadside features. It is, however, a flawed record. The shape of many roads is distorted or straightened and several other types of error are also widespread. The article begins with a short biographical sketch of John Ogilby. After a description of the contents of these strip-maps and suggestions for obtaining access to them, the article describes and provides examples of the maps' distortion of road shape. It shows how, by ignoring this, the true line of the road can often be revealed using a combination of distance, a generally reliable factor in Britannia, and named detail. The article suggests that these errors may stem often from the draughtsman's error rather than from the surveyor's mistake. A number of less obvious minor errors and slips are then similarly treated. If we can understand the existence, form and explanation of all these errors, we can explain some of the more puzzling roads or features seen in Britannia.

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