Antique County Map of Leicestershire, England, 1804
€ 325
One of a kind: this is the sheet in the photographs. Ships from Langweer, the Netherlands.
Date
1804
Technique
Engraved
Sheet size
64 × 54 cm (25.2 × 21.3 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-12924-11
Condition
General age-related toning and a few spots of dirt due to handling, but all outside the image, leaving the map perfectly suitable for framing. Vertical Folding line as issued. Contemporary Colouring. Please study image carefully.
About this sheet
Antique county map of Leicestershire first published c.1800. Villages, towns, and cities illustrated include Lutterworth, Ashby, Hinkley, and Market Harborough.
Charles Smith was a cartographer working in London from circa 1800. His maps were finely engraved on copper and featured beautiful hand colouring. The county maps were initially issued as single sheets for travelers from 1800. In 1804 they were published as an atlas, Smith's New English Atlas.
The maps are large and contain information required by a traveler of the time. All the principal turnpike roads are shown with distances from town to town. The local administrative divisions, such as the hundreds, are indicated by different colours. The hundred was of Saxon origin and was an area of approximately 100 households. As its head was an Elderman who was held responsible for supplying fully equipped men for the King in times of war and for the administration of justice. The hundred court was where justice was administered and by the 13th century they were held 12 times a year in a meeting place in the principal town. Local issues were also discussed here and decisions made, the town usually giving its name to the hundred
