Survey of Kent
The Survey of Kent was the first map of the Ordnance Survey . The 1801 published map of the southern English county of Kent established the tradition of inch-to-a-mile maps (1: 63360) of the Ordnance Survey.
The creation of the map lasted from 1795 to 1801 and was carried out under the direction of the chief draftsman at the Board of Ordnance , William Gardner. The card was primarily intended for military use. It therefore particularly emphasizes roads and transport routes, forests that can offer protection, and differences in altitude in the terrain. The map was created in the map workshop of the Tower of London . First, the draftsmen drew systems of particular military importance there on a scale of 6 inches per mile, further important details followed on a scale of 2 inches per mile.
The Survey of Kent was the first in a series of similar maps. The British government feared the consequences of the French Revolution and an invasion of England by France. She therefore commissioned the Board of Ordnance for a series of maps of the south coast of England that were to be made available to the general public. Previous attempts to create such a series of maps had failed because of the large landowners who refused to let government officials on their land.
A forerunner map of the Survey of Kent was drawn up in 1781. At that time France had tried to take the Channel Island of Jersey and as a result an accurate map of Jersey was created. However, this was only intended for government use.
After the Survey of Kent, a second map of Essex was made .
Web links
- British Library: Curators Introduction: Ordnance Survey Drawings
literature
- Douglas W. Marshall: Military Maps of the Eighteenth-Century and the Tower of London Drawing Room Imago Mundi, Vol. 32, (1980), pp. 21-44
- William Mudge et al .: An account of the operations carried out for accomplishing a trigonometrical survey of England and Wales 1801, full text at Google Books
- Richard Oliver: Ordnance Survey maps: a concise guide for historians 2nd Ed. Ordnance Survey 1995. ISBN 1-870598-24-5 .