Morden 1695

344mm h x 414mm w

Morden 1695

Camden's Britannia

Updated version of Camden's Britannia, with new maps provided by Robert Morden. His originally planned maps were replaced by these larger scale ones (the smaller ones appeared in his own atlas in 1701). The Essex map is based on the Ogilby & Morgan of 1678.

After 1695 there were 4 further editions of this version of Camden's Britannia, the last in 1772. This copy is from the original 1695 issue, as it has Theydon Laughton and Salcot, rather than the Laughton and Salcot Wigborow of the 1722 edition.

These are the first set of county maps to use London for the Prime Meridian, specifically St Paul's cathedral. He has degrees and minutes on the sides and across the bottom (noted as "Minutes or Degrees East"), but across the top he has "Minutes of Time East". Further "firsts" concerning the longitudes are on the Meridians page.

There are three scales, of 10 miles = 78mm, 73mm & 68.2mm for Great, Middle & Small miles, giving 3.3, 3.5 & 3.7 miles/inch respectively; the actual scale is 3.7 miles/inch, or 1:230,000.

The three scales use differing numbers of miles to a degree. The relationship between the three scales varies by county, as does their variation from the statute mile. It is not known why he added all these to his maps.

© Peter Walker 2013