Bodleian Library Map Room

Copies of the Gough Map can be purchased from the Bodleian Shop Online

The accompanying book: The Gough Map -The Earliest Road Map of Great Britain? is also available

The Gough Map of Great Britain (also known as The Bodleian Map) is the oldest surviving road map of Great Britain, dating from around 1360. Drawn in pen, ink and coloured washes on two skins of vellum, the map's dimensions measure 115 x 56cm. It was donated to the Bodleian Library in Oxford by Richard Gough in 1809, along with the rest of his collection of maps, prints, books and drawings, under the terms of his will.

Little is known of its provenance, other than the map was bought by Gough at a sale in 1774 for half a crown (12 ½ pence). The identity of the map-maker is unknown, the clues to its accurate dating based on historical changes of place name and studies of the hand used to inscribe those names onto the map.

Although the map is undated, clues are given by certain features, such as the town of Sheppey which changed its name to Queenborough in 1366, but is still marked as Sheppey on the map, whilst paleographic evidence suggests the mid- to late fourteenth century.

Once the reader is aware that the map shows east at the top, then the outline of Great Britain quickly becomes familiar. Rivers are given strategic importance, with the Severn, Thames and Humber predominant, and even the loop of the Wear at Durham readily evident. Other physical features are identified by symbols, for example a tree locates the New Forest.

Scotland assumes an unfamiliar shape, but the Clyde and Forth are easily identifiable, as is Edinburgh. Throughout, towns are shown in some detail, the lettering for London and York coloured gold, while other principal medieval settlements such as Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Lincoln, Norwich, Salisbury and Winchester are lavishly illustrated.

	Routes between towns are marked in red on the map, with distances included in Roman numerals, also marked in red, best seen on those roads radiating out from London, and also along the Welsh coast.

A number of facsimiles of the map have been reproduced, including those published by Ordnance Survey in 1871 and 1935, the Royal Geographical Society in 1958, and more recently by the Bodleian Library.

Copies of the Gough Map can be purchased from the Bodleian Shop Online

The accompanying book: The Gough Map -The Earliest Road Map of Great Britain? is also available

Current research on the map is being undertaken at Queen's University Belfast, and further details can be found on the GEOID website at:
http://143.117.30.60/website/GoughMap/viewer.htm

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Bodleian Library 2007