Nicholas Crane
What's Your Map? Live
What's Your Map? Live at the British Library with Nicholas Crane
Available soon on all major podcast platforms. Stay tuned for this live episode and a recording of the conversation filmed at the British Library on Saturday 25 October.
In this episode, Jerry speaks to celebrated geographer, author, broadcaster and former President of the Royal Geographical Society, Nicholas Crane.
They discuss the discreet War Department takeover of an area of the Wiltshire countryside for British armed forces training, and the Military Manoeuvres Act of 1872 as demarcated on James Wyld's map of Salisbury Plain.
We learn more about the importance of map projections and the world's first scientific atlas by Gerard Mercator. We will also hear about Nicholas' own epic journeys across the UK, including his extraordinary coast to coast walk two degress west of the prime meridian from Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland, to the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset.
To view the maps featured in Nicholas' talk with Jerry, see the images below:
© From the British Library collection - Maps 5710.(1).
This is James Wyld's "Map of Salisbury Plain showing the Country to be Occupied for the Military Manoeuvres during the Autumn of 1872, including the camps". Dated 8 August 1872, it was produced by esteemed English cartographer Wyld (1812–1887), who at the time held the title Geographer to Queen Victoria.
In pink, it outlines the limits of the area assigned for military exercise as laid out in the Military Manoeuvres Act of 1872. This piece of governmental legislation became an Act of Parliament, giving the British War Department permission to conduct wide-ranging military field exercises without needing to ask for approval each and every time. The numbered orange markers show the position of permanent Camps across the Plain.
Along their cartographic journey, Jerry and Nicholas go back in time to discuss the importance of different projections, and the revolutionary design by 16th century cartographer, Gerard Mercator.
Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
This is Gerard Mercator's famed world map of 1569. Titled 'Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Descriptio ad Usum Navigantium Emendate Accommodata' which from Latin translates to 'New and more Complete Representation of the Terrestrial Globe, properly adapted for navigation'. It marked a significant turning point in the advancement of mapmaking "since the time of Ptolemy".
There are only 4 copies of the original 16th century map that are known to have survived: this image shows the extant example held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
©The Sunderland Collection
This map of England and Wales, with parts of Scotland, Ireland and north-western Europe is also by Mercator.
It derives from his stunning 1595 'Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura' which is celebrated for being one of most important European cartographic works produced during the Renaissance. It is the "first complete edition of the first truly modern scientific atlas", and also the first work to use the term 'atlas' in a title for a collection of maps.
In Greek mythology, Atlas was the Greek god who bore the weight of the Earth and the Heavens on his shoulders, a punishment given to him by Zeus for warring with the Olympian gods.
Mercator's 1595 'Atlas' contained 5 regional maps of England, all of which are said to have used Christopher Saxton's as a cartographic source - drawing on both his 1583 map of Great Britain and Ireland, and his individual county maps dating between 1574 and 1579. However, according to Imago Mundi scholar J. H. Andrews, Mercator's use of latitude and longitude in the 'Atlas' was a less accurate than that of Saxton!
Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 scale Map of Salisbury Plain - Landranger 184 ©Ordnance Survey
This is Ordnance Survey's 1:50,000 scale 'Landranger' map of Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire ('OS 184'). The Ordnance Survey are the UK's national mapping agency. Established in 1791, the OS has been making maps and innovating cartography for over 230 years!
As Nicholas mentioned during his episode, Wyld's map of Salisbury Plain also extends to show parts of Hampshire, Somerset and Dorset, and it omits lines of longitude and latitude. This is because at the time each English county would have been surveyed on slightly different scales, making it difficult to join maps up using a standardised scale.
The founding of the Ordnance Survey led to the implementation of a nationwide trigonometric survey and the introduction of the National Grid reference system as well as consistent map scales and icons on their maps.
Nicholas used his copy of this map to navigate across Salisbury Plain during his Two Degrees West expedition. Adhering to his strict rules of following this 'longitudinal tightrope' meant that he had to gain special permissions to travel through the active training zone on the Plain, and through the former RAF base at MOD Lyneham (near Chippenham), and was even joined by a military escort!
About Nicholas Crane
Nicholas Crane is an author, geographer, cartographic expert.
He is the recipient of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s prestigious Mungo Park Medal in recognition of outstanding contributions to geographical knowledge, and of the Royal Geographical Society’s Ness Award for popularising geography and the understanding of Britain.
Between 2015 and 2018, Nicholas served as the elected President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Nicholas has been the lead presenter on more than 80 BBC films - presenting many acclaimed TV series’ on BBC2, including: Map Man, Great British Journeys, Town, Britannia and Coast.
An an author, his books include Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe (Penguin, 1996), which describes his solo, 10,000-kilometre walk along the continent’s mountain watershed and was called ‘One of the liveliest and most enthralling travel books I have read for years’ by Miranda Seymour in the Sunday Times.
Two Degrees West: An English Journey (Viking, 1999), described as ‘An elegant and moving snapshot of England, a beautifully written book…very funny’ by The Times, is the account of a walk from one end to the other of England, following the prime meridian.
In 2002, Nicholas wrote the cartographic bestseller Mercator: The Man Who Mapped the Planet (Orion), which was praised by the great Lisa Jardine as ‘A gripping and densely informative biography’.
Published in 2016, The Making of the British Landscape from the Ice Age to the Present (W&N, 2016), was described by The Times as ‘Storytelling at its best’ and by the Guardian as ‘Ambitious, magnificent’. You Are Here, A Brief Guide to the World (W&N, 2018), was celebrated in the New Statesman as ‘a lifetime of thought and travel … a hymn to geography.’ Latitude (Penguin) was published by Michael Joseph in 2021 and described in the Spectator as ‘terrific’.
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