[From Proc IoMNH&ASoc vol 3]

The title of this paper conveys, perhaps, the idea of an account of what has been done in the way of showing objects of archeological interest on maps. A brief account of maps themselves, particularly of these Islands, would seem to be a useful preliminary to the subject.

A capacity to understand the nature of maps appears to be possessed even by the most primitive people in all parts of the world. The early Arctic explorers profitted greatly by rough maps drawn for them by the Eskimo. The Labrador Indians drew maps on the bark of trees. A native of Tahiti drew maps for Captain Cook on his voyages in the South Seas — while another native of the Pacific Islands drew a map in chalk of a whole archipelago on the deck of Captain Wilkes' vessel. The Marshall Islanders were found to possess maps on which the bearings of the islands were indicated by short strokes.

How far back in time human beings have thus been endowed with a faculty for map making is not known; but the remote possibility of a crude attempt at the delineation of trackways, or boundaries, on the curiously engraved stones sometimes found on this Island has been explored.

In searching for the earliest record of surveying by civilised nations, we naturally turn to Egypt or Mesopotamia. But, although the ancient Egyptian records, before 3,000 B.C., make numerous references to land measurement including the annual fixing of holdings on the areas which had been covered by the inundation of the Nile, and there are representations of land measurers found on the walls of tombs, yet no maps or plans of properties in Ancient Egypt have come down to us. From papyri found in recent years it is evident that areas and positions of properties were noted in the public registers from very early times. Clay tablets in Mesopotamia, dating from about 2,000 B.C., have plans of properties inscribed on them.

In Roman times surveying formed part of the general education of the upper classes.

When the Spaniards reached Mexico they found the natives equipped with very good maps, many worked in silk. The construction of maps attracted the attention of many in Europe during the Middle Ages, but it was not until the sixteenth century, when the great Dutch and Flemish school of cartographers flourished, that the subject received the attention it deserved. The early maps usually portrayed the chief geographical features of a country, and were of a regional or general character, rather than topographical. There is, however, in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, a map of Great Britain, dated about 1300, which can be described as a road map, and which was made, apparently, by actual reference to the ground, not, like many contemporary maps, based on tradition. It has the chief towns, rivers, castles, abbeys, etc., marked on it, and distances are marked along the roads, which are shown by red lines.

The earliest known map of the British Isles is by Ptolemy. It was drawn before A.D. 140, and was published at Rome in 1478. The map was probably constructed from descriptions by travellers. The first map of the British Isles drawn by an Englishman is that by George Lily, in 1546. Mona and Anglesey are both indicated. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Chistopher Saxton undertook the survey of England and Wales, which he published in 1579, 1n 35 sheets. 'This was by far the best achievement in Britain up to that time. Bridges were shown, but roads were omitted.

Saxton was succeeded by John Norden, who inserted the highways on his maps. Norden did a large amount of work, but he only succeeded in publishing the maps of two counties, owing, it is said, to want of support.

Symonson's map of Kent, dated 1596, is full of detail, and shows the adoption in England of the Dutch method of shading the sea areas.

John Speed was trained as a tailor. His taste for cartography and his cleverness with the pen soon brought him into notice elsewhere. His name appears on quite a number of maps which are merely copies. Norden's map of Surrey was copied by Speed for the 1607 edition of Camden's 'Britannia.' Between 1608 and 1610 Speed published a series of 54 maps of England and Wales, 'The maps of Comwall, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey, and Sussex were by Norden, and others were by Saxton. These collected formed the 'Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain,' first published in 1611. Speed. did not add much to geographical knowledge, though he used profuse ornament and marginal decoration. He introduced inset plans on his maps, and his plates were reprinted from for a century and a half, till they were very worn.

The ornament on the maps of this period is interesting. The ships sketched on Saxton's map of England and Wales are quite good representations of contemporary warships, such as fought the Armada, and about which there has been some controversy. But of even more interest is the fact that in the ornament is frequently sketched the tools and instruments with which the work of map making was carried out, a matter which has always been one of conjecture. The chain, staves, compasses, and peramulator are seen among them. The latter was wheeled along, ticking off the yards on a dial as it was moved.

Sir George Fordham, F.R.G.S., to whom I am indebted for information, in a lecture two years, age at Manchester University, mentioned a French map, dated 1560, on which is engraved the figure of a surveyor at work, and he said behind him his servant holds his horse.' Sir George Fordham has been good enough to send me a small reproduction of this map, and I agree with his description, but the mention by him of this sketch drew my attention to a map in the Manx Museum, of the Isle of Man, marked in pencil "Janson 1646,' and apparently a Dutch copy of Speed's map, on which is shown the figure of a horseman who is leaning over as though communicating with a surveyor, who is standing on the ground. The horseman, with out-stretched arm, appears to be pointing to a distant object, while the surveyor is scaling on a plan with a pair of compasses, This sketch seems to suggest that horsemen were employed to assist in the survey.

No extensive triangulation appears to have been made until well into the 18th century, but there must have been some system in general use by surveyors before that time for obtaining distances to and fixing the position of distant points.

Many of the old maps are very inaccurate. One of the most praised productions was Symonson's map of Kent, yet in this map there is an error of many miles between Rochester and the North Foreland.

It is important to remember that up to this period the scales of maps were based on the old British mile of 2,425 yards; but, at the latter end of the 17th century, the postal roads in Britain were measured on the basis of the statute mile of 1,700 yards, and from that time onwards an interesting series of road books and itineraries were published. These old road books are much sought for nowadays. One, which I picked up i the Douglas market about 25 years age, gives the information that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, the mailpacket left Whitehaven for the Isle of Man once weekly, and that the postage for a 1 ounce letter from London was 15 pence.

In the year 1656, Dr. William Petty, the ancestor of Lord Lansdowne, undertook what was known sas the' Down Survey' of Ireland. This was thye first elaborate official survey in these Islands. it was carried out by Cromwellian soldiers—who used a circumferentor and chain—at a cost of one penny per acre:

In the meantime, the want of reliable topographical maps of Britain was being felt acutely, and especially so during the invasion of the Young Pretender, in 1745. General Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia and friend of Bishop Wilson, was tried by court martial for failing to make a vigorous pursuit of the Scottish Clans in their retreat northwards from Oxford. Lack of accurate maps was one of the reasons put forward as a cause of the failure. About this time, a survey of the Highlands was projected and carried out by officers on the staff of the Duke of Cumberland. The maps made were on a scale of 1.75 inches to a mile, or about 1,000 yards to one inch; and the hills were shown by rough stump shading, and not, as heretofore, in profile, an important departure. A state of war, or of preparation for war, was always favourable to map making, both on the Continent and in these islands; but the next impetus towards the mapping of the United Kingdom came from the scientific side. he two Cassinis, father and son, had built up a great triangulation in France, and in 1783 the French Ambassador forwarded to Mr. Fox a memoir by Cassini the astronomer, in which was advocated the carrying out of a triangulation from London across the Straits of Dover to be connected with the French triangulation—the immediate purpose being to join the observatories of Paris and Greenwich, and to ascertain their relative positions. This work was undertaken by the Board of Ordnance, who appointed General Roy—an officer who, between 30 and 40 years before, had taken a leading part in the survey of the Highlands—to carry it out. In this way came the name 'Ordnance Survey,' though the survey has long been dissociated from the Board of Ordnance, being for some time under the Board of Trade, and, since 1880, under the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Maps were first made of Southern England, and, subsequently, of the whole of the British Islands.

The number employed on the Ordnance Survey for many years was very small, but was greatly increased in 1824-5, when the Survey of Ireland on a scale of six inches to a mile was taken in hand. Contours, invented by Dr. Hutton, F.R.S. in 1776, were adopted on the six-inch maps of ireland in 1830.

The Manx Museum possesses a very fine series of maps of the Isle of Man.

The earliest known map of the Isle of Man is that by John Speed, dated 1610 (sometimes referred to as Durham's' map; dated 1595). . The small map by Daniel King, included in the volume known as the 'Vale Royal of England,' dated 1653, is possibly a copy of Speed's, but it has additional details. Garff, Glenfaba, and Ayre Sheadings are shown, and the Chickens Rocks. There are numerous maps of the Island, some of them obviously copies of others, between this period and the date of the Ordnance Survey, one of the most noteworthy from a topographical point of view being that known as Drinkwater's map of 1826.

The Ordnance Survey of the Isle of Man took place in the years 1806 to 1871, the Insular Government contributing £7,500 toward the cost. The one-inch map, which was first published in 1873, was revised in 1895, 1905, and 1920. On the last occasion contours were added to the map, and among other revisions, there were over 80 names altered or added. The large scale maps of the Island are very out of date, having had no revision since the original survey.

Outside the official Surveys, very little would appear to have been done in the matter of recording the position and description of antiquities on maps used by the general public. The immediate purpose in the early days of the Ordnance Survey was the production of a military map on a small scale, and the question of showing antiquities, as such, was probably hardly considered at all. The start of the Survey of Ireland in 1825, however, greatly enlarged the scope of the department's operations, and, at one time, the work enbraced archeology, natural history, and geology. I saw in the National Museum at Dublin, in 1892, a large case of birds, since distributed, marked 'Ordnance Collection.' The County of Londonderry was particularly fortunate in having a full account of all phases of the work of the Ordnance Survey published in volumes, in addition to the six-inch maps, before much of it was discontinued, probably on the grounds of expense.

Naturally, a scientific work of such dimensions, carried out at the public expense, attracted much attention from learned societies and others, and many guestions intimately connected with the Survey, such as the scales adopted for the cadastral plans of Great Britain, were decided only after prolonged reference to) tmesenocies during the years 1851 to 1858. Archeology seems to have been much to the fore in those days, but as time went on the chief thing impressed on the staff was the fact that, like all other governmental work of this description, the survey had to be carried out within an estimated time and cost. Credit was given for surveying many acres or squares miles in record time, but I am afraid that little encouragement was given for inserting or describing antiquities. Nevertheless, the surveyors carried out their instructions as to the showing of antiquities, even though the work of filling in papers giving the position and description of the objects kept them busy after their legitimate working day had ended.

The work of the Survey had again been enormously increased by the Survey of Great Britain on the large scale of25 inches to a mile, which was followed in 1887 by a re-survey of Ireland on a similar scale. Since the completion of these Surveys, in 1914, the work has been mainly of a revision character.

Many persons take up an Ordnance sheet of a 60 years' ago survey and complain of the ignorance and indifference apparently shown by the Government Surveyors at that time in the matter of antiquities, but what was the state of public interest in this subject 60 years ago? 'The surveyors depended very largely on what information they could get in each district they traversed. There were many people in private life who were working hard and doing pioneer work, but the interest taken in Archeology by the general public was very limited and in some remote districts almost non-existent. The enquiries made by the Ordnance surveyors, doubtless, did much to awaken interest in many places. It has only been during the last generation or so that a real popular movement disclosed itself to unravel the past through the remains left to us of monuments, records, traditions, etc. It became recognized that Archeology was now a fully developed science with its own methods and deductions, which were increasingly influencing the study of mankind and of everyday beliefs. And, as this movement gathered strength, the authorities concerned were able not only to obtain grants of money to be used for the protection of ancient monuments, but also to enable them to appoint an archeological expert to the Ordnance Survey Department. In the past, much had been omitted from the maps and much had been wrongly described. Many objects which were not antiquities had been shown as such— among these were logan or rocking stones, glacial boulders, standing stones of recent erection, natural caves, clefts or chasms, isolated pinnacles of rock, and natural arches. Then, again, the distinctions between different types of the various pre-historic antiquities, such as Barrows or Tumuli, had not been sufficiently investigated to enable a correct description to be applied to them by the surveyors. The oval grave mounds of the late neolithic period were merely marked "Barrow." Nowadays the term used is 'Long Barrow,' and, where the mound, is mainly composed of stones, 'Long; Cairn' 'Horned Cairn' is used to describe a variety peculiar to Scotland. Tumuli were marked on the maps by the name which they obtained locally in various parts of the kingdom — Barrow, Low, Howe, Carn, Carnedd, Tump, Cairn. On the Isle of Man they are sometimes referred to as 'Butts,' which term, however, was not adopted. In recent years, all these names have been omitted and the general term 'Tumulus' applied to these objects, and no distinction is made whether the tumulus is bowl, bell, or disc in shape. Should, however, the object have a proper name including any of these terms the name is given and the word ' tumulus ' added in brackets below.

In a few cases cairn circles have been confused on the maps with the objects known as 'Stone Circles.' The cairn circle, as you know, was a ring of upright stones erected to support the loose stones of a cairn. Very often the cairn itself has disappeared, leaving only a ring of uprights. They are readily distinguished from a stone circle, which has a diameter: about ten times greater. The cairn circles, also, have usually an outwards lean, due, probably, to the former pressure of the cairn.

The name ' menhir' or ' monolith,' as applied to Standing Stones is now omitted, and the general term 'Standing Stone' is written to these objects. These stones are often the last stone of the burial chamber of a Long Barrow. In this connection, also, the term ' Cromlech' and 'Dolmen,' which were formerly used on the maps to indicate what had been the burial chamber of a ' Long Barrow,' the mound of which has disappeared, are not used nowadays. The descriptive name 'Burial Chamber' is now usually written to these objects. Standing Stones with an inscription are shown on the maps as ' Inscribed Standing Stone,' and those with an inscription in Ogham characters are described as ' Ogham Stone.' Double rows of Standing Stones are written 'Stone Avenue,' while the term ' Stone Row ' is applied to a single row.

All large pre-historic enclosed defensive works of stone or earth are described on the maps as 'Camps.' Those which have proper names have the name given and the word 'Camp' written in brackets underneath. Most of these camps in England were probably constructed in the centuries immediately preceding the Roman Conquest. The objects found in them are of La Téne type—the early iron age, or late Celtic period.

There are a few nearly square ' plateau ' camps in England, which appear to belong to the Bronze Age, and have sometimes been mistaken for Roman Camps.

Ancient village sites have usually been described on the maps as ' British' villages. Many of these villages are proved to have been occupied well into Roman times. They are now described as ' Ancient Village' and not ' British ' village. The term ' pit dwelling' is now discarded—there being so much doubt as to what use these pits were put to. They:are, in any case, usually found either in camps or villages. An important re-arrangement of the system of lettering used to distinguish antiquities on Ordnance Maps has taken place in recent years. All pre-Roman antiquities, i.e., before A.D. 43, are now written in Old English characters, Roman remains continue to be shown in Egyptian characters, while 'German text ' is used for antiquities dating between A.D. 420-1688. The field revisers of the Ordnance Survey are still responsible, generally, for collecting information regarding antiquities, and for inserting descriptions and detail of objects in position on the plans. This work is reviewed by the Archaeological officer, who, in cases of doubt or difficulty, visits the ground to investigate.

In addition to the number of antiquities constantly being added to the maps during the ordinary work of revision, aerial photographs are carefully scrutinized, whenever opportunity occurs, it being found that many very remarkable and unsuspected traces of barrows, ancient villages, old boundaries, and earthworks are revealed by this means.

No account of this sort could be closed without reference to the very great value of maps as a record of antiquities which have disappeared since the survey took place. Each year must see the disappearance of tumuli and other interesting objects from encroachment by the sea, sucht as on the Jurby coast; or destruction by the hand of man, in road making, quarrying, town-planning, etc.

A fine example of an ancient Camp on the Clee Hills, Worcestershire, very similar to the South Barrule Camp, was being greatly cut away by quarrying when I was working on the ground a few years ago. Near Warminster, similar effacement of a Romano-British Camp is in progress. In Ireland, I have seen a small circular fort of the type common to that country completely dug away for use as top dressing on the fields.

The streets of Silchester, an excavated Roman city in Hampshire, were carefully surveyed and inserted on the maps before the site was again levelled and returned to agriculture.

The Ordnance Surveyor or Reviser is supplied with instructions to enable him to distinguish likely sites of antiquities, whether pre-Roman, Roman, or post-Roman, and to follow up clues provided by the finding of a stone implement, an arrow-head, potsherd, or tessere; to distinguish between recently turned ground and the low banks forming the probable site of an ancient village; to identify an ancient road, castle mound, moated homestead, travelling earthwork, ancient enclosure, or the details of a mediaeval ecclesiastical settlement.

It must be remembered, however, that the first duty of the Surveyor is the production of military maps and taxing plans. The spade work in connection with the discovery, investigation, and description of objects of archeological interest which ultimately find their way on the map has been done, and probably will continue to be done by societies such as I have the honour of addressing, or by private individuals.