HARRISON'S HAMPSHIRE 1788, Map Features
plain cartouche
The map title is printed in a plain cartouche at the top left:-
A MAP OF HAMPSHIRE, ENGRAVED FROM AN ACTUAL SURVEY with Improvements.
engraver
Haywood Del
Engraved for J. Harrison, 115, Newgate Street, as the Act directs, Decr. 16, 1788.
Sudlew Sculp.The draughtsman's name is spelled variously Heywood and Haywood for different maps in the whole atlas.
compass rose
The map has a simple compass rose, just the four cardinal points (N,E,S,W) with north marked by spear head, no letters or words. The N-S line is oriented to but offset from the longitude grid; the E-W line lies along a latitude grid line.
Latitude and longitude are indicated by a chequered border to the map, numbered at degrees and every 5 minutes, on all four sides of the map. The latitude/longitude grid is drawn on the map. Detail notes see:-
scale
There is a scale line: 12 miles, chequered in miles, numbered 1..12, labelled:-
English Statute Miles, 69 1/2 to a Degree.Assuming a modern mile the map scale is about:-
1 to 300000
5 miles to 1 inchA better estimate of the map scale can be got from town positions, comparing to known town-town distances using DISTAB.exe. The map scale is about:-
1 to 370000
6 miles to 1 inch
sea plain
coast form lines
The coast is drawn with form lines.
castles
Most of the coastal defence castles are marked on Harrison's map:-
Hurst Castle
Calshot Castle
Netley Cast
St Andrews Cas
Worth Cast.
Sth. Sea Castle
And two military defensive fortifications in the Portsmouth area are shown.
Cosham Fortat the crossing from the mainland to Portsea Island; and the fortifications around Portsmouth dockyard.
The map is far too small to show the exact layouts, but the distinctive zigzag shape of the walls of an artillery fort, polygonal wall, bastions and ditches, is clearly suggested. This style of fortification with ditches, bastions, etc was developed in the 16th to 18th centuries and became obsolete during the 19th century. Note that the fortifications face landwards. They are there to protect the Royal Navy's dockyard from an invading force from landward.
bridges
Rivers are drawn by wiggly lines; some named, eg:-
Avon R
Beauley R
Oux RMost of Hampshire's major rivers are shown, but coverage does not appear to be entirely systematic. There are some little streams shown which could have been left out, and some not shown which could have been included.
Many road river crossings are drawn, but it is not clear that a bridge, rather than a ford, is implied. At Winchester it looks like a bridge.
hillocks
Hills are drawn by little lumpy hillocks.
Beacons are shown by a tower on a hill with flames coming from the top. Harrison shows only two beacons; this is two centuries after the Armada, the beacon system is no longer important. This map, 1788, is just a few years too early to show the new telegraphs, shutters in 1796 then semaphores in 1812, being organised by the Admiralty for signalling between London and Portsmouth.
woods
trees
Forests and woods are drawn by groups of small tree symbols; circle and trunk.
Parks are shown by a ring of fence palings, usually with trees. The shape is not just a conventional circle, but attempts to show the shape of the park Some parks are named, eg:-
Tremanton Park
Idlesworth Park
The county boundary is a dotted line. In the example studied the boundary has been coloured pink, plus different colour for each adjacent county.
table of hundreds
The hundred boundaries are drawn by a dotted line.
A table of hundreds is printed at one side, keyed to areas on the map by numbers. Detached parts of hundreds are explicitly labelled.
Reference to the Hundreds.
No.
1 Christ Church ... Hundred
2 Ringwood ... Do.
3 New Forest ... Do.
etcThe Bosmere/Portsdown hundred boundary is unclear on the map; it probably continues down the river to the coast. Similarly the hundred boundary between New Forest/Christchurch probably follows down the river to the coast.
blocks along a road; labelled in upright block caps, eg:-
WINCHESTER
blocks along a road; labelled in upright lowercase text, eg:-
Alresford / Thu.
L shape block, ie a church?; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Upr. Wallop
or, blocks along a road; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Badsley
simple block; labelled in italic lowercase text, eg:-
Prestrow
The symbol may be just a house
Bear Ho.
two towers etc, eg:-
Odiham Castle
The market day is printed alongside some of the towns on the map, eg:-
WINCHESTER W & Sat
Fareham Wed.
Harrison's map shows a network of roads drawn by double lines. The roads are graded; more important roads are drawn wider and have one line bold, lesser roads are narrower. On the map studied the main routes are coloured yellow, the minor routes left plain. There are numerous roads; the density of both major and minor roads is worth consideration.
There are some apparent oddities. The road SE from Andover meets the River Test distinctly offset from what looks like its continuation towards Winchester. What is missing is the zigzag of the [current] B3420 alongside, across, between braids, across, and alongside the Test in its broad valley. How this leaves the 18th century traveller we can only guess; confident that there's bound to be a way across?
A comparison to Ogilby's routes is given separately.