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Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey Kindle Edition
Map of a Nation tells the story of the creation of the Ordnance Survey map, the first complete, accurate, affordable map of the British Isles. The Ordnance Survey is a much beloved British institution, and this is—amazingly—the first popular history to tell the story of the map and the men who dreamt and delivered it.
The Ordnance Survey’s history is one of political revolutions, rebellions and regional unions that altered the shape and identity of the United Kingdom over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It’s also a deliciously readable account of one of the great untold British adventure stories, featuring intrepid individuals lugging brass theodolites up mountains to make the country visible to itself for the first time.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGranta Books
- Publication dateJuly 7, 2011
- File size14862 KB
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Product details
- ASIN : B005ERMKUC
- Publisher : Granta Books (July 7, 2011)
- Publication date : July 7, 2011
- Language : English
- File size : 14862 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 484 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #222,693 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #9 in Geography (Kindle Store)
- #12 in 1837-1901 History of UK
- #17 in 1714-1837 History of UK
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There are facts in this book which I never knew relating to the art of cartography all laid out in a easy to read narrative. Bottom line, if you enjoy maps and especially OS Maps, you will add a lot to your trove of knowledge by reading this book.
The most fascinating portions of the book are those that detail the exploits of the Ordnance surveyors as they are out in the field making maps. Hewitt clearly explains the science behind the instruments used and how they were employed on site. It is very interesting to learn how the surveyors achieved maximum accuracy by calculating and compensating for the effects of temperature change on their instruments or the gravitational pull of land masses. In their rambling journeys over the countryside, the intrepid mapmakers not only faced hardships from the elements but also hostility from landowners who suspected the surveyors to be spies or taxmen. The Ordnance Survey’s mapping projects took far longer than expected, and considering the difficulties they faced, as Hewitt describes them, it is a wonder the maps were ever completed at all.
The history of the Ordnance Survey is not all about rambling over hill and heath, however. It also involves a great deal of politics and military bureaucracy. Before the Ordnance Survey even appears in the book, Hewitt gives a long summary of the Jacobite Rising of 1745, in which the Scots rebelled against the English. Hewitt uses this to establish the context for the birth of the Ordnance Survey, but it makes for an awfully lengthy set-up. Over the course of the Ordnance Survey’s history, Hewitt sketches the biography of each new officer who takes up a managerial position in the department. These biographies often digress into tangled webs of genealogy, peerage titles, descriptions of estates, and tangential relationships to the royal family. Hewitt broadens the scope of her study even further by delving into the role that maps played in popular culture, which involves her quoting just about every contemporary English play or poem in which the word “map” is uttered. Such deviations often feel like a stretch from the topic at hand. As often as not, however, Hewitt’s digressions lead to the discovery of surprising facts and curious trivia.
The thoroughness of Hewitt’s research is impressive, but for many general readers it may just be too thorough. At times this narrative of the Ordnance Survey feels just as arduous and protracted as that institution’s lengthy mapping projects. If you are approaching this book from an interest in cartography, be advised that cartography is only part of the story here. This is, after all, an institutional history, and as such it is bound to contain its fair share of mundane details and figures. That said, as far as government departments go, the Ordnance Survey is more interesting than most, and readers who enjoy exploring maps will certainly learn much about the complex processes behind the making of maps. You will come away from this book with a greater appreciation for the cartographic pioneers who devoted their lives to the science and art of mapping our world.
I deem it a very important addition to any OS collectors library.
Highly recommended.
The Ordnance Survey was actua;;y set up in 1791, but the author begins with the aftermath of Culloden. While the 1745 battle was embarrassingly one-sided, the aftermath showed a need for proper maps, because of the difficulty of catching escapees. Bonnie Prince Charlie was never caught. A series of Scottish was created between 1747 and 1755, leading eventually to the creation of the Ordnance Survey, although it took until 1870 to cover the whole of the UK because the Ordnance Survey was often side-tracked by other projects. During that period, the industrial revolution started and some maps already published were updated, causing further delays.
The history of the Ordnance Survey up to 1870 is far more varied than I expected and makes a great story.
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The book blurb mentions her degree (and thesis) was in the study of maps and sometimes this rather heavy read does indeed carry echoes of an academic thesis. However, for those of us that can sit and read a map or sea-chart with fascination and interest this book is an important and engrossing read. I first came across the famous OS maps as a young boy scout, when we were taught map reading and plotting and throughout my career of international travel - with a few ex-Empire exceptions - realized they are unique in their detail and no other country has such a depth of charting in its maps for the citizen. Before the arrival of the ubiquitous GPS and online maps there was not any other such detailed outline of the country.
The OS series were are and are meticulously maintained and regularly updated ... once when we obtained a new copy of a well-used map (used for walking, addresses, history rambles and Rallying and even river sailing) we were astonished to find a small garage we had recently added to our country bungalow in Kent had been charted and added - to scale!
There were of course advantages for the British in undertaking to survey and minutely chart their country... it is a relatively small nation to map, it is politically integral, and this book details why the very early start of deep military mapping was undertaken - a common motive for action in British history - Napoleon.
The need for defensive surveying, fortifications, the battle with their `field of fire' were stimulated by "bony" and his threat of invasion. Despite many, typically political parsimony, the gradual success of a very tiny cast of characters resulted in the nation-wide mapping of every hillock, hamlet and brook.
The sheer quality of these OS maps are such that they remain a treasured and collectible service to the British public and Rachel Hewitt's `biography' of their creation should be collected too, by any map buff or, indeed, anyone that can read a map.