Maps and meanings

Abstract

If you have ever gone walking in the countryside using Ordnance Survey maps, you will know that they can offer a rather nostalgic picture of the British landscape. Rights of way that are marked clearly on the map tend to peter out into bracken and gorse, or are barred by crops. This is usually the result of decades of disuse, rather than any malice on the part of landowners. Most farmers in my experience seem only too happy to pass the time of day with the occasional rambler, to point out where the original track ran a generation ago, and to show you a short cut across their fields towards your next destination. If your chances of ever completing an entire walk exactly according to the map are pretty slim, your risks of getting seriously lost in any populated area of Britain are also low. Ordnance Survey maps tell us much about their era and culture of origin: they speak of past military certainty and imperial optimism. Other kinds of maps tell us about the map-makers and their society too. Clearing out the house recently, I came across …