The map above, titled An Entirely New & Accurate Survey Of The County Of Kent, With Part Of The County Of Essex was created by William Mudge in 1801 and is regarded at the first official Ordnance Survey map.
The map was commissioned in the 1790s to help defend England from a feared French invasion during the French Revolution. What made it different from previous maps, was the use of the Trigonometrical Survey which produced much more accurate results compared to previous techniques.
As the name suggests, it covers the entire county of Kent, including many bits that now form Greater London, along with some of the county of Essex. The survey was carried out under the direct of Captain William of the Royal Artillery (based at Woolwich) and printed at the Drawing Room at the Tower of London.
If you’d like to get a close up view of the map, there’s no need to go to the British Library since the MAPCO website has a detailed scan of the entire map you can view online. Note all scans remain the © Copyright David Hale / MAPCO 2006-2016. Here are some samples:
© Copyright David Hale / MAPCO 2006-2016
© Copyright David Hale / MAPCO 2006-2016
© Copyright David Hale / MAPCO 2006-2016
© Copyright David Hale / MAPCO 2006-2016
To learn more about the creation of this map, and the Ordnance Survey in general, I highly recommend reading: Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey.
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John McLaren says
I am very interested in this map as my great great grandfather was Major General Colby one time Director General of the Ordnance Survey. He was originally responsible for developing the concept of contour lines of equal height.
I am not a robot and last year visited the OS in Southampton to hand over a number of artifacts belonging to MGC . The point of conact was a Clive Boocock. Their is now a display of these items beside the main reception in the OS
I still own MGC’s writing desk and have the provence to prove it