Lewis Petit and his Plans of Scottish Fortifications and Towns, 1714–16

Abstract

The background and context to the cartography of the French military engineer Lewis Petit and his work in Scotland is explained. Petit was responsible for drafting the earliest plans and profiles of four castles in the north-west Highlands of Scotland (1714), as well as the earliest town plans of Perth and Inverness (1716). A consideration of their functions, particularly through the Board of Ordnance archives, allows a better understanding of these plans and their value as historical sources, as well as their accurate dating. Petit's work reflected national and international developments, including war in Europe and the Jacobite rebellions in Britain. His cartography illustrates the spread of new European military theories and practices, at a time when a professional corps of military engineers was being established in Great Britain. Through studying Petit and his maps we can gain a fuller understanding not only of the Board of Ordnance in Hanoverian Scotland, but also of the militarisation of cartography in the eighteenth century, and the emergence of standards relating to colour, scale and terminology.