Antique Decorative County Map of Huntingdonshire, 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-12924-9

Condition

General age-related toning with some minor foxing. Small tears outside the plate. Contemporary colouring. Folding line, as issued, a bit discoloured, but still a very decorative representable map of over 200 years old. Please study image carefully.

About this sheet

Antique county map of Huntingdonshire first published c.1800. Cities illustrated include Kimbolton, Chesterton, Folkesworth, and Great Stewkeley.

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.