About Maps
Maps can encapsulate the history of an area. The earliest maps
began to appear in the Elizabethan period and generally depict counties. The
most famous mapmakers were John Speed and Christopher Saxton. A copy of
Speed's
map of Bedfordshire, considered to be one of his finest achievements, is held at
Bedford Central library.
Town plans were first produced in the sixteenth century and many were being produced by the eighteenth century. Production of urban plans increased rapidly in the early nineteenth century.
The Ordnance Survey was set up in 1791 when Napoleon was threatening to invade and the Board of Ordnance realised that it had little idea of the geography of Britain's vulnerable south coast. Ten years later, the first inch-to-the-mile map was published.
Page last updated: 16th May 2005
