#gough map

A new study uses the Gough Map to reconstruct medieval England’s road network, revealing how Roman routes shaped travel for centuries.

Because whenever this map was made, it was at a time when the English had a good sense of English and Welsh geography. They weren't so up on Scottish geography, so the Scottish coastline just sort of looks, you know, round.

It is also important to know that, while this is not a theologically-based map in the classic T-O style, like many medieval European maps it is oriented towards Jerusalem, meaning that the top of the map does not point north, as modern maps typically do, but rather east.

All of this combines to achieve a rather amusing effect. Here's what the Gough map looks like.

Drawn over two large pieces of sheepskin parchment, the truly remarkable Gough Map measures more than one metre wide and half a metre tall. Its size is impressive in person; even our slightly scaled-down facsimiles are a sight to behold.

Unlike most modern maps this one is oriented to the East - that is to say, North is situated to the left of this map if you put the have the text upright and readable.

We’ve had the map in our collection at the Bodleian Libraries since 1809 when it arrived at Richard Gough’s bequest.

Oxford’s somewhere in this section... but can you work out where?

Gough had acquired it for half-a-crown on 20 May 1774, during the sale of the collection of Thomas Martin of Palgrave. It was described at that auction as ‘a curious and most ancient map of Great Britain.’ As it was then, so it is now.

It’s believed that the map dates to around 1360, and is the first we know of to show a recognisable coastline of Britain.

Between 2006 and 2009 the Bodleian undertook a program of conservation work on the map, which we described in detail on our website.

The Gough Map is truly one of our Treasures and deserves its place on the front page of digital.bodleian.

The Gough Map is the oldest extant map of the roads of medieval Britain.

It is about 115 x 56cm large and was made around 1360. It is named after Richard Gough, who donated the map to the Bodleian Library in 1809.

The Gough Map

The Gough Map or Bodleian Map is a map of the island of Great Britain, dating between 1355 and 1366, and is the oldest surviving road map of Great Britain. Its precise date of production and authorship are unknown. It is named after Richard Gough, who donated the map to the Bodleian Library in 1809. The map is believed to have been made within an eleven-year window, due to the ability to date some of its features. The earliest given date is deduced by the depiction of a city wall around Coventry, which was first constructed in 1355. The latter date is usually given as 1366, the year in which the town marked on the map as Sheppey was renamed Queenborough. It is, however, believed that the map is based on an earlier version, made around 1280. Source: Wikipedia