Published: Thursday, 17th December, 2009 11:00am

Retro: Mapping the way to town's past

by David Cliffe

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UNTIL Friday last week, I thought I knew just about every old map which showed Reading as something bigger than a dot.

Then, out of the blue, or rather, via Parcelforce, came a mystery package, which turned out to be a large atlas - 'A Map Of the Country Sixty Five Miles Round London, from Actual Surveys by John Andrews and Andrew Dury'.

The maps extend as far west as Newbury, and as far north as Oxford, so Reading is included.

The scale is reasonably large, though a bit unusual, at seven eighths of an inch to the mile. The publication date, 1807, means that the maps pre-date the Ordnance Survey by around 23 years.

What makes the maps particularly fascinating is what they show, what they don't show, and how they compare with the first edition of the Ordnance Survey at one inch to a mile.

Gentlemen's seats and parks are fairly prominent on Andrews and Dury. At four guineas a copy (£4.20), only people of substance would have been able to afford it. The surveyor (John Andrews), the engraver (Andrew Dury) and the publisher (T. McLean) were doubtless all hoping to make a decent profit on the project.

It is curious to see 'Oyster Shells Bed' marked in the Katesgrove area, while there is no mention of Katesgrove itself. This presumably was the area near the 'Catsgrove Hill Brick Kilns' where 'the green sand containing oysters (Reading Beds)' lay above the chalk, according to The Geology Of The Country Around Reading, published in 1903.

I can imagine people in past ages being absolutely amazed at finding oyster shells so far inland, and wondering how they got there.

Also interesting are the words 'The Ivy Tree' marked along Forbury Road, somewhere near the corner where it skirts the prison. Is this a long-forgotten public house?

Careful perusal of the maps will doubtless throw up other curiosities, in due course. For the time being, the important thing is to have the sheets showing Reading and Berkshire copied, and hung in the map chests on the top floor of the library, for visitors to study and to copy.

Naturally, I was absolutely delighted to receive this generous gift.