Shropshire Routes to Roots

The county surveys took place between 1700 and the nineteenth century. They give a snapshot of the topographical knowledge of the day, although their accuracy and scale are sometimes dubious. Some industrial sites were marked on these maps, for example windmills and watermills. This was mainly because rivers were accurately surveyed. The map shown here is by John Speed, it is very colourful with a close-up of Shrewsbury and a key to the streets.

Estate maps were made to show landowners' estates. Most date from the eighteenth century. They are usually very detailed. Many of the maps are decorated with vignettes or little scenes of the manor house, church. The map illustrated here is a detail from the estate papers of Broseley Hall. They show the emergence of Industrial buildings close to the River Severn.

Tithe maps form the most complete records of agricultural Shropshire. By the early nineteenth century the payment of Tithes to the church was causing problems. For hundreds of years people had paid one tenth of all their produce, or labour, to the church. A mixture of high taxes, a slump in the economy and unrest resulted in Parliament passing the Tithe Commutation Act in 1836.

In 1675, Ogilby's Britannica was published. This was essentially a road map. Each route was depicted by a series of scrolls, running from the bottom left to top right. Down the centre of the roads marked where a series of dots, each dot denoting a furlong. This was an improvement in the use of scale and was the first use of a statutory mile.

Bridges, rivers, villages and castles were all recorded. Steep hills were shown in picture form, visible as the road passes through the Stretton Hills. The plan for Shrewsbury Town is also clearly distinguishable.

John Rocque, an Eigheteenth century mapmaker of reknown, was a Huguenot immigrant. Before 1750 he was largely employed on plans for great houses. He developed his own style of engraving pasture, gardens, heath for which he is famous. He transferred this talent to maps. The map above shows his skill at representing hills in three dimensions which he did by shading and lighting.

Much of his depiction of land use is a work of invention. He had a tendency to generalize, so his maps are not particularly accurate. Field boundaries account for about only 10 to 15 percent of what is actually there.

This map by Rocque, dated 1752, shows Coalbrookdale before Ironbridge existed. There is no crossing of the Severn at this point and no town. However coal pits are marked near to the town of Broseley.

Between 1817 and 1839, 20 years after the end of the Napoleonic wars, there was a general resurveying of the counties. In Shropshire this was carried out by Christopher Greenwood.

There had been great changes during this period with the introduction of turnpike roads, canals, and the enclosure of land. However the most important feature was the growth in population due to Industrialisation. Greenwood's technique was to advertise for subscribers and to use existing surveys along with censuses and guide books. The consequence was that the quality of the maps is often variable.

This map from an actual survey made in the years 1826-7 shows amazing detail recording the hundreds, boroughs, market towns, villages, as well as turnpikes and other roads, coalpits and canals. At the bottom left is a view of Shrewsbury, showing St Chads the Kingsland Ferryhouse, Coleham Brewery and trows on the river.

Unlike the Rocque map, Ironbridge is now in existence, as are the inclined planes at Blists Hill and Benthall.