Past Talks
The Message in the Map
Date: 17th March 2025
Speaker: Nick Millea
Nick Millea’s talk focussed on a selection of seven maps, some of which were from Bicester. He set out to enlighten us as to the purpose of each map; for whom they were designed and the message that the cartography is conveying.
In developing their 1:2,500 series, the Ordnance Survey established a regular programme of surveys from 1863. The area covered by these maps was 1 mile x 1.5 miles. They covered all of cultivated Great Britain by 1896. Mountains and moorland were not included. A total of 616 sheets covers pre-1974 Oxfordshire. This series was not intended for public use, but, rather, for government and planning purposes. The Ordnance Survey is recognised as the best mapping agency in the world and is at the forefront of digital advancement.
The 1881 edition for the Bicester area includes field numbers, supplemented by a booklet that details land usage and acreage. A colour-coding system, viz: buildings (brick/masonry) – carmine; buildings (wood/iron) – grey; water – blue; roads – sienna. This created a visually attractive map, which was hand-coloured throughout.
Weardale artist Layla Curtis has created a collaged map based on the North East of England, but incorporating extracts from maps published in Australia, America, Canada, New Zealand and Jamaica, where place names are duplicated. The end product, on display at the Baltic Art Gallery in Gateshead, is intended to challenge the observer and encourage close inspection. Nick invited us to consider whether this is a map or a work of art.
In 2011, Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography at Oxford University produced maps called Fair Play which conveyed the results of the 1997 general election. Although complex, they interpret the statistics in a meaningful manner. Colour- coding identifies social conditions within each constituency. Professor Dorling recognised that these so-called cartograms are a powerful tool for delivering information.
The Drink Map of Oxford was produced in 1883 by the Temperance Union of Oxford, who wanted to get across their message about the evils of alcohol. It invited magistrates to decline applications for licences, particularly in the poorer areas of the city which were already heavily populated with drinking establishments in the Victorian period. Copies are available from the Bodleian Libraries.
The Sheldon Tapestry Map of Oxfordshire was designed for Ralph Sheldon in around 1590, advertising to his contemporaries that he had sufficient wealth to commission it. The series is of four maps covering Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Two of the original set, Oxfordshire and Worcestershire, are owned by the Bodleian Libraries, together with a later acquisition of a sizeable proportion of the Gloucestershire map. Conservation took place between 2012-2015 and the maps are displayed in the Weston Library.
The unusual Leo Belgicus map is in the shape of a lion and symbolises a period of peace between the Netherlands and Belgium & Luxembourg between 1609 and 1621.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union mapped the entire world, parts of it down to individual buildings. The maps were first seen at the International Cartographical Association’s conference in 1993. In some large cities the maps include detail not shown on domestic maps of the same date, such as the width of roads, the load-bearing capacity of bridges and the types of factories. Many details came from aerial and satellite reconnaissance, and, presumably, agents on the ground. These maps are still a taboo subject in Russia today.