"Map of a Nation" tells the story of the creation of the Ordnance Survey map - the first complete, accurate, affordable map of the British Isles. The OS is a much beloved British institution, and "Map of a Nation" is, amazingly, the first popular history to tell the story of the map and the men who dreamt and delivered it from its inception in 1791, right through to the OS MasterMap of the present day: a vast digital database. The Ordnance Survey's history is one of political revolutions, rebellions, and regional unions that altered the shape and identity of the United Kingdom over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It's also a deliciously readable account of one of the great untold British adventure stories, featuring intrepid individuals lugging brass theodolites up mountains to make the country visible to itself for the first time.
Map of a Nation
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Review
`Hewitt tackles the subject exuberantly ... The sweep of its history has true grandeur' --The Times
`An endlessly absorbing, lively and informative narrative that highlights the Ordnance project's legion of draughtsmen, surveyors, dreamers and eccentrics' --Observer
`An extremely handsome and scholarly account of the genesis of the OS map' --Sunday Telegraph
`A diligent and very detailed book. She has done justice to a neglected subject and to neglected but worthy men' --Daily Mail
`A remarkable story of human endeavour in the name of Enlightenment values'
--Metro
`An endlessly absorbing, lively and informative narrative that highlights the Ordnance project's legion of draughtsmen, surveyors, dreamers and eccentrics' --Observer
`An extremely handsome and scholarly account of the genesis of the OS map' --Sunday Telegraph
`A diligent and very detailed book. She has done justice to a neglected subject and to neglected but worthy men' --Daily Mail
`A remarkable story of human endeavour in the name of Enlightenment values'
--Metro
About the Author
Rachel Hewitt competed her doctoral thesis on the subject at the university of London in 2008, and is currently a Research Fellow at Queen Mary and Westfield.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
209 of 213 people found the following review helpful
By Big Jim
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I love maps and the OS map above all. This book describes how the Ordnance Survey came to be and its turbulent early history.As the author says '...the national mapping agency has established a secure place in the affections of the modern British public'. An institution indeed.
Hewitt explains how the Ordnance Survey grew from the Highland uprisings as the Hanoverian forces tried to explore the wild territory in which the clansmen lived and indeed hid. Ironically it was a lowland Scot, William Roy of Lanarkshire, who led the team that criss-crossed the rugged terrain - so rugged that even today there is little point in using any online map service other than that supplied by the OS and only harveys have seen fit to challenge the OS in providing useful maps to take with you into the hills.
The Lowlands followed the Highlands, as did England, and with increased pressure from the French eventually it became necessary to know where we were, and where the fiendish French might come from. Enter William Mudge.
Crazy name but driven guy. It was Mudge who plotted the triangles across southern England, oversaw their publicationa as maps, with the first instalment, 'an Entirely New and Accurate Survey of the County of Kent with Part of the County of Essex'. produced in 1801. It took 69 years to produce all of the first series and that is where this story ends.
If there is one criticism of the work it is that there are no racy or scandalous stories to tell. No tales of financial skullduggery or loads of people being killed as they hang from a mountain top with their theodlyte. These were serious men so it is hardly the author's fault that there is little here for those looking for "drama". What you DO get though is an interesting tale of trigonometrics, of the history of Britain and of a national obsession that has left a lasting legacy of the best mapping system in the world.
It is no coincidence that I have written one of my longest reviews for this book. Everyone who has, or intends to, walk in this still largely beautiful country; Anyone interested in the history of Britain; Anyone who just loves maps, should buy this book.
Hewitt explains how the Ordnance Survey grew from the Highland uprisings as the Hanoverian forces tried to explore the wild territory in which the clansmen lived and indeed hid. Ironically it was a lowland Scot, William Roy of Lanarkshire, who led the team that criss-crossed the rugged terrain - so rugged that even today there is little point in using any online map service other than that supplied by the OS and only harveys have seen fit to challenge the OS in providing useful maps to take with you into the hills.
The Lowlands followed the Highlands, as did England, and with increased pressure from the French eventually it became necessary to know where we were, and where the fiendish French might come from. Enter William Mudge.
Crazy name but driven guy. It was Mudge who plotted the triangles across southern England, oversaw their publicationa as maps, with the first instalment, 'an Entirely New and Accurate Survey of the County of Kent with Part of the County of Essex'. produced in 1801. It took 69 years to produce all of the first series and that is where this story ends.
If there is one criticism of the work it is that there are no racy or scandalous stories to tell. No tales of financial skullduggery or loads of people being killed as they hang from a mountain top with their theodlyte. These were serious men so it is hardly the author's fault that there is little here for those looking for "drama". What you DO get though is an interesting tale of trigonometrics, of the history of Britain and of a national obsession that has left a lasting legacy of the best mapping system in the world.
It is no coincidence that I have written one of my longest reviews for this book. Everyone who has, or intends to, walk in this still largely beautiful country; Anyone interested in the history of Britain; Anyone who just loves maps, should buy this book.
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
By SCM
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Let's make no bones about. This is an interesting book about a well loved institution. It seems to be a well researched book about a well loved institution. It will probably be bought by people like me who really enjoy looking at maps - almost any map, anywhere, and they will find,. as I did, many interesting things within in its many pages.
But let's also be clear about what this book is about: its about the origin of the Ordnance Survey and the production of the First Series of One Inch to the Mile maps (plus a few other things if the truth be told). It's not, as its title claims, of biography of the Ordnance Survey. It is a story that stops in the 1870's.
You will find few references to the Landranger Series of maps, or the Pathfinder series, or the 1:25000 Tourist Maps of the Lakes or the Dales. You won't find the beautiful One Inch to the Mile Map of The Lake District. In fact, you probably won't find any of the maps that people use today at all.
You will find a detailed and at times rather slow moving account of the early days of the OS, but that is all you will find. Oh, you will find a few mistakes as well - grid references do not identify a "point" in the landscape, they identify an area, which is why we say "I will meet you at the bridge at XXXXXX". Pillar in the Lakes is called "The Pillar", which is a strange mistake given that there is an extensive account of how the original map makers made sure they got the names of places correct.
This is a book with serious intentions - about 20% of the pages are taken up with references, but it is a history of the first 100 years of the OS, not an account of its whole history.
If you know this before you read the book, and you still want to read the book, you will find it excellent. But if, like me, you wanted just a hint of modernity, you may find it all just a little too academic and a little too distant.
Proceed with caution
But let's also be clear about what this book is about: its about the origin of the Ordnance Survey and the production of the First Series of One Inch to the Mile maps (plus a few other things if the truth be told). It's not, as its title claims, of biography of the Ordnance Survey. It is a story that stops in the 1870's.
You will find few references to the Landranger Series of maps, or the Pathfinder series, or the 1:25000 Tourist Maps of the Lakes or the Dales. You won't find the beautiful One Inch to the Mile Map of The Lake District. In fact, you probably won't find any of the maps that people use today at all.
You will find a detailed and at times rather slow moving account of the early days of the OS, but that is all you will find. Oh, you will find a few mistakes as well - grid references do not identify a "point" in the landscape, they identify an area, which is why we say "I will meet you at the bridge at XXXXXX". Pillar in the Lakes is called "The Pillar", which is a strange mistake given that there is an extensive account of how the original map makers made sure they got the names of places correct.
This is a book with serious intentions - about 20% of the pages are taken up with references, but it is a history of the first 100 years of the OS, not an account of its whole history.
If you know this before you read the book, and you still want to read the book, you will find it excellent. But if, like me, you wanted just a hint of modernity, you may find it all just a little too academic and a little too distant.
Proceed with caution
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Antenna
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
I agree with the view that this is a (no doubt precociously shrewd) cashing in on a PhD thesis. The author really should have brought this history of the Ordnance Survey up to date with recent developments in map-making. I also found the links to Enlightenment thought and poetry inspired by the British landscape too waffly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey
A bit heavy going - but its so informative. Rachel knows her subject well and opens with the earliest maps.
Published 1 month ago by E. M. Watson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ordnance survey
Found the book extremely informative and interesting. It makes you wonder at the fortitude of these early pioneers of institution we take for granted, albeit no longer belonging... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Paul Guest
5.0 out of 5 stars
A remarkably easy read for a non-fiction work.
For a non-fiction book, Rachel's writing style is remarkably easy to read, making a factual book something that can be read for leisure in the same way you would a novel. Read more
Published 2 months ago by MR JAMES R ROBINSON
2.0 out of 5 stars
Only Half the Story
This is an interesting if sometimes rather trite history, but misleadingly titled in that it finishes in the mid nineteenth century. Read more
Published 2 months ago by S. Kendon
4.0 out of 5 stars
A map making story
If like me you are interested in maps, not only from content but from 'nuts and bolts' compilation this volumn is interesting reading. Read more
Published 3 months ago by V. G. Nicholls
5.0 out of 5 stars
Christmas gift
Purchased this as a gift for a family member who worked for OS for sometime before retiring. He was over the moon with this and found it a fascinating read.
Published 4 months ago by Ms. Claire Draycott
5.0 out of 5 stars
How did we manage without maps?
This book admirably tells a story of how a need was met; to provide accurate information about the place we live in. And far, far more than that besides. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Antony R. Macer
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully detailed
Rachel Hewitt is a young historian, and her bio outline says that she is continuing her "Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowship, and has taken up the Weinrebe Fellowship in... Read more
Published 7 months ago by John the Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars
History of OS
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Published 8 months ago by A. D. Thompson
3.0 out of 5 stars
Title [is] not correct [a] bit misleading [but] ok[ay]ish
I thought this might be a complete history of the OS, an organisation based in my home city of Southampton, but it isn't really. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Rob Sawyer
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